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^AZMQW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING 


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By 

SAMUEL  CHESTER  PARKER 
Prn'i-"'  nf  Educational  Methods 
I  iiiveisily  of  Chicago 


Rrprtatcd    fium    the   EUmenlcry  School  Journal 


/ 


HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING 


SAMUEL  CHESTER  PARKER- 
University  of  Chicago 


ARTICLE  I 

Highly  developed  technique. — Methods  and  devices  for  teach- 
ing beginning  reading  have  been  perfected  to  a  very  high  degree 
in  some  of  the  model  schools  of  the  country.  By  means  of  reports 
of  actual  lessons  observed,  we  hope  through  this  series  of  articles 
to  famiharize  more  teachers  and  super\'isors  with  these  methods. 
In  order  to  show  the  validity  of  the  practices  described,  we  shall 
present  also  the  scientific  principles  and  evidence  which  justify 
the  methods  used. 

Sections  of  the  discussion. — The  discussion  wiU  be  organized 
imder  the  following  headings:  I.  General  picture  of  first-grade 
activities.  II.  Pre-primer  blackboard  and  chart  reading.  III. 
Beginning  book  reading.  IV.  Independent  recognition  of  new 
words:  phonetic  analysis.  V.  A  second-grade  lesson  illustrating 
achievements  and  technique.  VI.  Scientific  investigations  of 
reading. 

In  sections  II  to  IV  inclusive  we  shall  present  detailed  accounts 
of  first-grade  lessons  taught  by  Miss  Marjorie  Hardy,  and  in  sec- 
tion V  a  second-grade  lesson  by  Miss  Laura  Lucas,  both  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  Elementary  School. 

I.      GENERAL   PICTtJRE    OF   FIRST-GRADE    ACTIVITIES 

Beginning  reading  no  longer  the  "scourge  of  infancy"  but  tite 
road  to  fairyland. — By  describing  these  lessons  in  detail  we  shall 
give  the  reader  some  feeling  of  the  atmosphere  of  a  modern  school- 
room in  which  the  fine  art  of  teaching  has  been  perfected  through 
careful  study  and  practice.  In  such  a  situation,  learning  to  read 
is  no  longer  the  "scourge  of  infancy,"  as  Rousseau  called  it  in  1762, 
and  as  it  was  in  many  places  even  a  generation  ago.  Instead,  our 
modem  teaching  early  opens  to  children  the  road  to  the  fairyland 

■  Sample  lessons  taught  by  Marjorie  Hardy  and  Laura  Lucas. 


4G-1U2^J 


I  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [Sepiember 

of  fable,  mj'th,  adventure,  and  romance  as  found  in  the  world  of 
children's  books.  Every  step  that  they  take  along  this  road 
under  the  teacher's  guidance  is  playful  and  delightful.  At  the 
same  time  each  step  is  a  part  of  a  most  systematic  and  progressive 
scheme  of  learning,  all  parts  of  which  have  been  definitely  planned 
in  advance.  Yet  so  thoroughly  are  the  various  teaching  processes 
adapted  to  the  children's  instinctive  interests  and  activities  that 
delight  in  learning  and  systematic  progress  go  hand  in  hand. 

Much  incidental  reading  connected  with  studies  of  home  and  farm. 
— Since  much  of  the  reading  in  Miss  Hardy's  room  was  intimately 
connected  with  other  activities  of  the  children,  it  is  desirable  to 
get  an  idea  of  the  general  course  of  study  in  the  first  grade  in  order 
to  understand  the  principles  of  teaching  upon  which  the  reading 
was  based.  The  work  of  the  first  two  or  three  months  in  this  first 
grade  was  very  much  like  that  of  an  advanced  kindergarten  group, 
plus  specific  training  in  reading  and  number.  Like  a  progressive 
kindergarten,  the  first  grade  introduced  children  to  a  study  of 
home  and  community  life  through  play,  this  being  the  first  step 
in  a  progressive  study  of  social  life,  which,  as  it  continues  through 
the  grades,  develops  into  the  history,  geography,  and  civics  of  the 
later  years.  The  first  social  unit  studied  was  the  home.  The 
children  talked  about  the  rooms  which  they  had  in  their  own 
homes  and  the  purposes  that  each  served,  using  such  sentences 
as,  "We  cook  in  the  kitchen.  We  eat  in  the  diningroom.  We 
sleep  in  the  bedroom, "  etc.  Playrooms  were  constructed  out  of 
blocks  or  paper  or  cardboard.  Each  child  chose  a  room,  planned 
the  necessary  furniture,  constructed  it,  described  his  plans  and 
his  work,  etc.  The  little  sentences  quoted  were  used  incidentally 
for  reading  material. 

The  study  of  the  home  was  followed  by  a  study  of  farm  life. 
The  farmyard,  its  buildings,  occupants,  etc.,  were  constructed  in 
a  sand  pan  after  making  a  large  plan  with  labels  for  the  house, 
barn,  road,  etc.  The  story  of  the  farmer  bringing  his  crops  to 
town  or  to  the  railroad  for  shipment  was  developed.  Some  of 
the  products  were  followed  into  the  grocery  store  which  was  studied 
for  a  few  days  and  linked  up  with  the  activities  of  the  home. 
Thus  the  children  were  given  a  playful  but  thoughtful  initiation 


igai]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  RE.\DING  3 

into  the  study  of  social  activities  and  the  interdependence  of  various 
social  units — families,  farms,  stores,  etc. — in  the  community.  In 
connection  with  these  studies  there  was  much  incidental  reading, 
counting,  and  measuring. 

Specific  reading  lessons  began  wtlk  favorite  nursery  games  and 
rhymes. — In  addition  to  these  meaningful  social  studies,  another 
type  of  kindergarten  activity  was  extensively  used  in  this  first 
grade,  namely,  children's  games  centering  around  nursery  rh^Tnes 
and  songs,  such  as  "Jack  jump  over  the  candlestick,"  "Jack  and 
Jill, "  and  "The  old  cat  is  asleep." 

These  rh>-thmic  but  often  nonsensical  games  and  songs  consti- 
tute one  of  the  most  characteristic  and  pleasurable  features  of 
child  life.  In  the  kindergarten  such  nursery  rhymes  are  used  in 
the  form  of  games  to  train  in  phj-sical  activity,  rh>-thmic  control, 
singing,  oral  expression,  co-operation,  etc.  The  same  educational 
ends  were  served  by  these  activities  in  the  first  grade.  In  addition, 
however,  they  furnished  the  subject-matter  for  many  of  the  read- 
ing lessons  of  the  first  few  weeks. 

Fifteen  minutes  of  specific  reading  plus  much  incidental  reading. — 
With  this  general  picture  of  work  and  play  during  the  first  few 
months  in  the  first  grade,  we  may  proceed  to  a  description  of  the 
teaching  of  reading  which  I  observed  during  the  period  set  apart 
for  it  in  the  daily  program.  This  period  occupied  about  fifteen 
to  twenty  minutes  in  the  morning.  In  addition  to  this  specific 
period  there  was,  as  has  been  stated,  much  incidental  reading 
throughout  the  day  which  I  did  not  see.  In  conversation,  Miss 
Hardy  emphasized  the  fact  that  every  activity  during  the  day 
was  made  the  basis  of  some  reading.  This  might  be  a  "line  for 
the  day"  on  the  bulletin  board  in  the  morning,  e.g.,  "We  plant 
our  bulbs  today, "  a  word  here,  a  phrase  or  sentence  there,  etc. 

Even  specific  reading  period  contained  variety  of  activities. — On 
the  other  hand,  the  intensive  reading  period  of  fifteen  minutes  did 
not  consist  of  a  mere  continuous  reading  of  one  kind,  but  was  broken 
up  into  a  variety  of  activities  which  will  appear  in  the  descriptions 
that  follow.  This  variety  is  necessary  in  order  to  avoid  the  nervous 
strain,  inattention,  and  consequent  waste  that  result  from  pro- 
longed concern  with  a  single  form  of  intellectual  activity  with 
children  of  this  age. 


4  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [Sepiember 

Homelike  atmosphere  of  room  puts  children  at  ease. — Most  of 
the  children  in  Miss  Hardy's  room  had  not  attended  a  kinder- 
garten; hence  the  first  days'  activities  were  especially  arranged  to 
make  the  little  ones  feel  at  home  and  comfortable  and  contented 
in  the  strange  new  environment.  Blocks,  balls,  dolls,  and  other 
playthings  were  on  hand,  and  a  general  homelike  atmosphere  was 
created.  The  effect  of  one  item  was  noted  in  the  remark  of  a 
child  who  told  his  mother,  "  We  have  curtains  in  our  room  at  school 
just  like  we  have  at  home." 

n.      PRE-PRIMER   BLACKBOARD   AND   CHART   READING 
A.    SAMPLE  LESSONS 

Action  words  and  games  provided  first  reading  material. — The 
first  reading  experiences  were  given  in  connection  with  the  follow- 
ing action  words:  run,  hop,  skip,  jump.  These  were  written  on 
the  board  and  taught  by  means  of  a  game  in  which  one  chUd 
"blinded"  his  eyes  in  the  corner;  another  child  ran  to  the  board 
and  pointed  at  the  word,  e.g.  "hop",  whispered  it  to  the  teacher, 
hopped  to  his  seat,  and  said,  "Ready."  Thereupon  the  child 
in  the  corner  said,  "I  heard  you  hop"  (provided  he  guessed  right), 
and  ran  to  the  blackboard  and  pointed  at  the  word  "hop."  These 
activities  occurred  frequently  during  the  day  and  provided  fun 
for  the  children  as  well  as  relaxation  and  physical  exercise.  When 
the  children  had  to  go  to  the  board,  or  to  any  other  part  of  the 
room,  the  teacher  frequently  wrote  "hop"  or  "skip,"  etc.  on  the 
blackboard  and  the  children  used  the  corresponding  method  of 
locomotion. 

FIRST   DAY   WITH   "JACK   BE   NIMBLE" 

Nursery  rhyme  from  books  which  children  had  examined. — On  the 
fourth  day  of  school  the  teacher  introduced  during  the  reading 
period  the  nursery  rhyme: 

Jack  be  nimble, 

Jack  be  quick. 

Jack  jump  over 

The  candlestick. 

The  children  had  been  examining  various  books  of  nursery 
rhymes  found  on  the  "library  table "  at  one  side  of  the  room.  Miss 
Hardy  asked  some  children  to  show  her  their  favorite  rhymes  and 


ijw/j  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  5 

then  skilfully  centered  their  attention  on  one  suitable  for  an  easy 
reading  lesson,  namely,  "Jack  jump  over  the  candlestick." 

Games  played  unth  candlestick  and  at  blackboard. — A  candlestick 
which  had  been  pro\-ided  for  the  occasion  was  brought  out  and  the 
children  played  a  game  of  jumping  over  it,  meanwhile  becoming 
more  familiar  with  the  rhjTne.  Miss  Hardy  then  said  she  knew 
another  way  of  playing  the  game  in  which  all  could  play  it  at  once. 
The  children  wondered  how  it  could  be  done,  and  the  teacher  showed 
them  how  to  represent  a  candlestick  on  the  blackboard  with  the 
chalk  and  how  to  show  Jack  jumping  back  and  forth  by  curved 
lines.  The  children  e.\hibited  considerable  individuality  in  their 
drawings  of  the  candlestick,  some  adding  a  little  curved  handle, 
others  adding  the  flame  with  smoke  trailing  off.  They  practiced 
the  rhythmic  sweeps,  back  and  forth,  while  reciting  the  rhyme  in 
iinison. 

Pupils  told  teacher  how  to  urite  rhyme  on  blackboard. — Finally, 
Miss  Hardy  said,  "Wouldn't  it  be  fun  to  have  this  rhyme  written 
on  the  blackboard  so  we  can  all  see  it  and  read  it  instead  of  having 
just  one  copy  in  the  book?  ....  I  will  write  it;    but  you  must 

help  me  by  telling  me  just  what  to  say Who  can  tell  me 

what  to  write  first?"  A  boy  said,  "Jack  be  nimble."  She  wrote 
this  line  and  then  proceeded  to  write  the  other  lines  as  the  chil- 
dren dictated  them.  This  process  exemplified  the  finest  art  in  teach- 
ing the  first  reading  lesson  with  continxxous  Tna.tena.\.  WTiy?  We 
shall  see  when  we  come  to  the  systematic  discussion  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  teaching  first-grade  reading  which  follows  this  story. 
Meanwhile,  we  may  note  that  the  end  of  the  reading  period  had 
arrived  and  Miss  Hardy  told  the  children  she  would  write  "Save" 
on  the  blackboard  so  that  the  janitor  would  not  erase  their  rhjTne 
until  they  wanted  him  to. 

Great  detail  of  fine  technique  illustrated  by  fuller  descriptions. — 
In  order  to  illustrate  how  many  devices  and  varied  processes  are 
included  in  the  initial  teaching  of  reading  we  shall  describe  in 
somewhat  greater  detail  the  reading  lessons  which  followed  the 
first  presentation  of  the  rhjTne.  Some  of  these  devices  illustrate 
not  only  the  teaching  of  reading  itself  but  also  the  intimate  correla- 
tion with  other  activities  and  procedures  in  order  to  avoid  fatigue 
and  inattention. 


6  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [Septtmber 

SECOND  DAY  WITH  "jACK  BE  NIMBLE" 

Reading  from  large  printed  chart. — ^The  next  day,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reading  period,  the  class  counted  in  concert  the  number 
of  children  present  in  the  group,  and  one  child  then  counted  out 
the  appropriate  number  of  little  chairs  and  arranged  them  in  a 
semicircle  at  the  front  of  the  room  not  far  from  the  blackboard. 
The  teacher  then  wrote  "skip"  on  the  board,  and  the  children 
skipped  gaily  to  their  places.  After  they  were  settled  and  atten- 
tive the  teacher  recalled  the  rhyme  of  the  day  before,  asking  them 
how  many  lines  were  in  it,  and  recalled  that  they  had  written 
"Save"  on  the  board.  But  the  rhyme  was  no  longer  there.  She 
then  said:  "I  have  a  surprise  for  you  today.  I  have  the  rhyme 
with  a  picture  printed  on  a  chart  [which  she  then  hung  before 
them]  so  the  janitor  could  clean  the  blackboard.  Let's  see  if  we 
can  all  read  the  rhjone  from  the  chart  just  as  we  did  from  the  black- 
board yesterday." 

Group  reading  of  whole  rhyme. — -The  teacher  then  held  a  long 
strip  of  cardboard  under  each  line  as  she  and  the  children  read  it 
in  unison. 

Individual  reading  of  whole  rhyme. — Several  children  were  then 
given  a  chance  to  read  the  rhyme  indi\adually  while  the  teacher 
moved  the  cardboard  strip  down. 

"Show  us  the  line  that  says." — The  teacher  then  said,  "Who  can 
run  up  and  show  us  the  line  that  says,  '  The  candlestick '  ? — 
Margery."  Margery  held  the  strip  of  cardboard  under  the  right 
line.     "Who  sees  the  line  that  says,  'Jack,  be  nimble'  ? — Richard." 

Duplicate  chart  cut  into  lines  and  inserted  in  a  rack. — Miss 
Hardy  then  brought  out  a  dupHcate  chart  of  the  rhyme.  She 
said,  "Here  I  have  another  copy  of  the  chart  without  the  picture. 
See  if  it  looks  the  same  ....  four  lines  ....  Jack  be  nimble 
....  just  the  same.  Do  you  think  it  would  be  fun  to  cut  off 
each  line  and  have  a  child  put  it  where  it  belongs  in  this  rack?" 
indicating  a  rack  which  hung  on  the  blackboard  and  was  so  con- 
structed that  cardboard  strips  could  be  easily  inserted.'  With 
appropriate  remarks  each  line  was  cut  off  and  given  to  a  child 

«  "The  Plymouth  Chart.','  Chicago:  Plymouth  Press,  6749  Wentworth  Avenue, 
$4.00.  It  consists  of  a  strong  sheet  of  paper  with  ledges  in  which  strips  may  be 
inserted. 


ig2i]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  7 

who  was  assisted  in  placing  it  in  the  rack.  With  the  last  line 
she  said,  "Isn't  'candlestick'  a  long  word?  We  can  easily  tell  it 
because  it  is  so  long." 

Game  of  finding  corresponding  lines  in  the  two  charts. — "Now," 
she  said,  "  I  am  going  to  give  you  a  new  game.  I  am  going  to  take 
a  line  out  of  the  rack  while  you  have  your  eyes  shut.  Then  you 
look  to  see  which  line  is  missing  and  find  the  same  line  on  the  other 
chart.  Be  sure  to  study  it  out  before  you  raise  your  hand.  Now, 
blind  your  eyes." 

Taking  out  the  strip  "Jack  be  quick,"  she  said,  "Ready." 
After  giving  most  of  the  children  time  to  raise  their  hands,  John 
was  called  on,  "What  line  is  it?"  "Jack  be  quick"  said  John. 
"That's  right;  now  match  it  up  on  the  full  chart  (i.e.,  hold  it  under 
the  line  that  says  the  same  thing)  and  then  put  it  back  where  it 
belongs  in  the  rack." 

The  game  was  then  repeated  with  the  third  line,  "Jack  jump 
over."  The  child  who  was  called  on  said  it  read,  "Jack  be  quick." 
The  teacher  than  assisted  him  to  read  the  complete  chart  from  the 
beginning  until  he  came  to  and  recognized  the  correct  line.  The 
game  was  continued  until  all  lines  had  been  used. 

Game  of  giving  children  lines  from  rack  and  recalling  and  repla- 
cing them. — "Now  we  will  play  another  game,"  said  Miss  Hardy. 
"I  will  give  each  line  to  a  child,  and  when  I  call  for  that  line,  the 
child  who  has  it  must  run  up  and  match  it  on  the  whole  chart 
and  then  place  it  where  it  belongs  in  the  rack."  After  the  strips 
were  handed  out,  she  said,  "Who  has  the  first  line?"  but  the  child 
who  had  it  was  not  sure  although  her  neighbor,  looking  over 
her  shoulder  volunteered,  "I  know  who  has."     "Florence,"  said 

the  teacher,  "I  think  you  have.     Run  up  and  match  it 

That's  it.  What  does  it  say?  ....  Put  it  in  place,"  and  so  on 
until  all  the  strips  were  returned,  the  children  being  more  success- 
ful as  they  grasped  the  idea  of  the  game. 

Test  showed  children  knew  location  but  not  form  of  a  word. — The 
period  was  now  almost  over.  A  little  test  or  demonstration  of 
what  the  children  knew  and  did  not  know  came  when  Miss  Hardy 
said,  "I  see  the  word  'Jack'  some  other  place  in  this  room.  I 
wonder  who  can  find  it."     The  children  looked  around  and  located 


8  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [September 

a  picture  cut  from  a  magazine  showing  a  boy  going  to  school  with 
his  father.  Under  the  picture  Miss  Hardy  had  printed  on  a  card 
in  large  letters : 

This  is  Jack. 

He  is  going  to  school. 

One  of  the  children  who  volunteered  was  asked  to  hold  a  short 
strip  of  cardboard  under  the  word  "Jack."  Instead  he  held  it 
under  "This  is."  Why?  Because  in  the  rh>Tne,  "Jack"  was 
always  at  the  beginning  of  the  line,  and  this  child  had  an  idea  of 
its  location  but  not  of  its  form.  "Come  to  the  rhyme  and  find 
'Jack,' "  said  Miss  Hardy.  "That's  right.  Now  look  at  it  closely 
and  then  find  the  same  word  on  the  other  card."  This  time  the 
child  succeeded  easily,  and  the  class  was  turned  over  to  the  gym- 
nasium teacher  for  a  period  of  outdoor  play. 

THIRD   DAY   WITH   "jACK   BE   NIMBLE'' 
BEGINNING   "jACK  AND   JILL" 

Review  reading  of  rhyme  and  lines. — Next  day,  after  the  children 
had  "hopped"  to  their  chairs,  the  rhyme  was  reviewed  as  follows: 

First,  individual  children  were  given  a  chance  to  read  the  whole 
chart  through,  advancing  to  it  and  holding  a  long  strip  of  card- 
board under  each  line  as  read. 

Miss  Hardy  then  inserted  the  separate  lines  in  the  rack  as  she 
got  responses  to  her  questions,  "WTiat  will  the  line  say  that  I 
put  in  first  ?  "     "  WTiat  will  the  next  line  say  ?  " 

Pupil  became  '^teacher"  in  game  of  blinding  eyes  and  guessing 
removed  line. — Miss  Hardy  then  said,  "We  are  going  to  play  again 
the  game  in  which  you  blind  your  eyes  and  somebody  takes  out  a 
strip  and  you  find  which  one  it  is.  Only,  this  time  we  will  let  a 
child  be  the  teacher."  She  then  called  on  a  child  who  advanced 
to  the  rack  and  proceeded  as  follows:  (i)  Said,  "Blind  your  eyes." 
(2)  Took  out  a  line.  (3)  Whispered  to  the  teacher  what  the  line 
said.  (4)  Said,  "Ready."  (5)  The  children  held  up  their  hands. 
(6)  She  called  on  Mary.  (7)  Mary  named  the  right  line,  was 
given  the  strip,  matched  it  with  the  corresponding  line  on  the  full 
chart,  returned  it  to  the  rack,  and  in  turn  became  the  "teacher." 
Three  children  were  given  turns  in  this  game. 


iS,2i]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  9 

Blackboard  activity  for  all  in  rhythmic  dravdng  to  rhyme. — 
"Now,"  said  Miss  Hardy,  "we  are  all  going  to  the  blackboard  and 
make  Jack  jumping  over  the  candlestick.  I  have  marked  off  spaces 
for  children  on  the  side  board.  Count  the  spaces.  How  many 
are  there  ?  .  .  .  .  How  many  children  are  there  ?  .  .  .  .  How 
many  more  spaces  do  we  need  ?  ....  All  right,  I  will  mark  off 
four  more  on  the  front  board."  The  children  then  went  to  the 
board.  They  were  asked  each  to  show  his  right  hand  and  left 
hand,  as  some  were  not  sure  which  was  which;  to  take  the  chalk 
in  the  right  hand;  to  draw  a  candlestick  in  the  middle  of  the  space; 
then  to  start  the  chalk  at  the  left  side  of  the  space  and  as  they 
recited  the  rh>-me  to  draw  the  curved  lines  to  show  Jack  jumping 
back  and  forth. 

"Jack  and  Jill"  told  by  children  and  played  at  blackboard.-- 
The  children  then  returned  to  their  seats,  and  the  teacher  said, 
"I  am  thinking  of  another  verse  that  has  Jack  in  it.  Can  you 
think  of  one?  Mine  begins  'Jack  and,'"  whereupon  several  of 
the  children  were  ready  immediately  with  "Jill,  went  up  the  hill," 
etc.  "WTio  will  show  us  at  the  blackboard  the  hill  with  Jack  and 
Jill  going  up  and  tumbling  down,  something  like  we  showed  Jack 
jumping  over  the  candlestick?"  The  first  child  to  go  to  the 
board  made  a  curve  resembling  two  hill  tops.  After  some  further 
trials  the  class  agreed  on  a  curve  like  the  first  line  of  the  letter  //, 
and  all  went  to  their  places  at  the  board  and  practiced  it  rhythmi- 
cally while  saying  in  unison  the  complete  rhyme  about  Jack  and  Jill. 

Written  on  blackboard  by  teacher  as  children  dictate. — Then  the 
pupils  returned  to  their  chairs,  and  the  teacher  suggested  that 
she  write  the  rh>'me  on  the  board  and  prepare  a  chart  of  it  for  the 
ne.\t  day.  They  first  recited  the  rh)-me  in  unison,  and  then  Miss 
Hardy  said  she  would  write  it  as  they  told  her  what  to  write. 
"What  shall  I  write  first?"  The  children  said  "Jack  and  Jill 
went  up  the  hill."  This  was  written  as  two  short  lines  thus: 
Jack  and  Jill 
Went  up  the  hill. 

Why  ?  We  shall  see  later.  The  children  eagerly  anticipated  each 
succeeding  line  and  volunteered  joyful  remarks  about  "how  long" 
some  of  the  lines  were. 


lO  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [September 

Children  read  rhyme  while  running  pointer  under  each  line. — 
A  few  minutes  remained  for  reading  the  whole  rhj-me  through, 
one  child,  with  Miss  Hardy's  assistance,  running  a  pointer  under 
each  line  as  it  was  read.  "Tomorrow,"  said  the  teacher,  "we 
shall  have  this  rhyme  printed  for  you  on  a  chart." 

POUKTH   DAY   OF   RHYME   READING.      CHART   OF   "jACK   AND   JILL" 

Free  conversation  about  the  picture. — When  the  chart  was  dis- 
played the  next  day  the  children  volunteered  various  remarks 
about  the  picture  which  was  at  the  top,  such  as,  "Jack  is  tumbling 
down."  "Jill  hasn't  tumbled  yet."  Miss  Hardy  added  comments 
about  the  "heavy  pail  of  water,"  the  "steep  hill."  etc. 

Chart  read  as  in  case  of  "Jack  be  nimble." — The  chart  was  then 
read  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  reading  of  the  candlestick  chart, 
as  suggested  briefly  in  the  following  memoranda. 

1.  Whole  in  unison. — "Let's  all  read  it  together,"  said  Miss 
Hardy,  and  they  proceeded  as  she  held  a  long  strip  of  cardboard 
under  each  line. 

2.  Whole  by  one  pupil;    praise  for  good  reading. — "Florence, 

come  and  read.     Hold  the  cardboard  under  each  line That's 

fine.     We  can  always  hear  Florence  because  she  reads  so  clearly." 

3.  "Finding  the  line  that  says."  Mild  rebuke  for  irresponsible 
child. — "  Who  sees  the  line  that  says,  '  Went  up  the  hill  ? '  "  Mary 
raised  her  hand  and  was  called  on  but  was  not  ready.  "You 
must  always  see  the  line  before  you  hold  up  your  hand."  Several 
lines  were  practiced  in  this  way,  a  child  advancing,  placing  the 
cardboard  under  the  desired  line,  and  reading  it. 

4.  Inserting  separate  strips  in  rack.  Children  on  watch  for 
mistakes. — "Now,  all  stand  up.  Here  I  have  each  line  on  a  sepa- 
rate strip Let's  see  if  I  have  enough.     How  many  lines  are 

on  the  chart?  ....  Count  my  strips Which  one  must 

I  put  in  first  ?  .  .  .  .  Now  I  am  going  to  put  in  the  others  rapicily, 
and  you  must  watch  to  see  that  I  don't  make  any  mistakes." 
Miss  Hardy  then  purposely  inserted  "Broke  his  crown"  before 
"Jack  fell  down."  The  brighter  children  soon  discovered  this  and 
suggested  the  correct  change.     Seats  were  then  resumed. 

5.  Blinding  eyes  and  finding  removed  line. — They  then  plaj-ed 
twice  the  game  of  having  the  class  blind  their  eyes  while  one  child 


i(,2i]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGEWING  READING  II 

took  out  of  the  rack,  a  line  which  the  class  then  proceeded  to  dis- 
cover on  the  chart. 

New  stage;  learning  individual  words.  Children  matched  word 
cards  with  words  in  rhyme. — The  teaching  then  proceeded  to  an 
entirely  new  stage  as  Miss  Hardy  produced  a  pack  of  cards  upon 
each  of  which  was  printed  a  word  in  large  letters.  The  words 
were  "Jack,"  "went,"  "hill,"  "water,"  "up,"  "down,"  "fell," 
"after,"  and  "over,"  the  last  word  being  brought  in  from  the 
candlestick  rhjTne.  She  said,  "You  see  these  cards.  They  are 
not  lines.  They  are  just  words.  Some  are  taken  from  the  first 
line;  some  are  from  the  second  line.  John,  here  is  one  for  you. 
Your  word  is  in  the  first  line.  See  if  you  can  find  it.  Florence, 
your  word  is  in  the  second  line."  Each  child  was  given  a  card 
until  all  were  supplied.  "Study  your  line  carefully  to  find  a  word 
that  looks  just  like  yours.     As  soon  as  you  find  it,  raise  your 

hand All  right.     Hands  down.     We  will  begin  with  Arthur. 

When  I  call  your  name,  run  up  to  the  chart,  hold  your  card  under 
the  right  word  and  tell  us  what  it  is.     Now,  Arthur." 

Matched  correctly  but  could  not  name.  Reading  as  far  as  matclied 
word. — Arthur  matched  the  word  "went"  correctly  in  the  first 
line  but  when  Miss  Hardy  asked,  "What  does  it  say?"  he  could 
not  tell.  By  reading  the  line  from  the  beginning,  however,  he 
easily  found  what  it  said.  The  next  child  matched  "hill"  cor- 
rectly but  called  it  "Jill."  Miss  Hardy  helped  her  to  point  at 
each  word  from  the  beginning  of  the  rhyme  as  teacher  and  child 
read  rapidly  and  smoothly  as  far  as  "hill."  The  next  child  was 
taught  "up"  in  the  same  way.  "All  watch  carefully,"  said  Miss 
Hardy,  "for  you  may  have  to  find  this  same  word  later." 

Flash  drill  with  cards  called  "moving-picture  show." — The  period 
then  concluded  with  a  rapid  "flashing"  of  the  cards  by  the  teacher, 
a  game  which  they  called  their  " moving-picture  show."  "Remem- 
ber,"  said  the  teacher,  "as  I  bring  each  card  from  the  back  of  the 
pack,  you  watch  it  carefully,  and  just  as  soon  as  I  place  it  on  the 
front,  you  tell  me  what  it  is." 

rimi   DAY   OF   RirVHE    READING 

Principally  drill  games  with  word  cards  and  rhyme  chart. — After 
the  preliminaries  of  getting  seated   the  next  day.   Miss  Hardy 


12  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURN.\L  [September 

said,  "I  have  so  many  games  for  you  today  that  we  must  do  them 
quickly.  First  we  will  read  the  whole  rh}Tne.  We  will  let  Alice 
do  it  because  she  has  such  a  good,  clear  voice." 

After  this  reading,  they  played  very  briefly  "finding  the  line 
which  says." 

Each  child  was  given  a  word  card  to  match  and  name.  Appropri- 
ate hygienic  remarks  and  praise. — Next,  each  child  was  given  a  word 
card  and  told  to  find  the  same  word  in  a  given  line  on  the  chart. 
After  all  had  their  hands  up  except  two  children,  Miss  Hardy 
said  to  these,  "You  watch  and  we  will  help  you  later.  Hands 
down,"  and  the  game  proceeded  as  on  the  day  before.  Incidental 
remarks  were  made  about  keeping  the  cards  away  from  the  mouth 
and  face  and  holding  them  correctly.  To  the  child  who  had 
"Jack,"  Miss  Hardy  said,  "See  how  many  'Jacks'  you  can  find," 
and  when  he  had  found  four,  "  Good  for  you."  When  a  boy  found 
the  word  "water"  quickly  and  said  it,  appropriate  praise  was 
bestowed.  Then  to  the  class  she  said,  "Everyone  look  at  this 
word  and  say  it." 

Special  devices  for  some  words. — To  the  cards  for  "up"  and 
"down"  special  attention  was  called.  "Children,  look  at  these 
two  words.  The  short  one  is  'up';  the  longer  one  is  'down.' 
When  you  play  see-saw  you  go  up  and  down  [making  appropriate 
gestures  with  the  corresponding  word  card].  I  am  going  to  mix 
these  two  words  up.  See  if  you  can  tell  me  quickly  which  one  I 
show  you,"  proceeding  to  flash  "up"  and  "down"  several  times. 
Similarly,  devices  were  employed  with  the  words  "after"  and 
"over"  which  were  giving  special  difficulty. 

" Moving-picturc-show"  game  again. — The  children  then  stood 
up  while  the  "moving-picture-show"  game  was  run  off  by  flashing 
the  cards. 

Teacher  inserted  individual  words  in  rack  as  pupils  named  each. — 
The  children  being  seated.  Miss  Hardy  said,  "Now,  I  am  going 
to  put  these  words  in  the  rack.  They  will  be  all  mixed  up,  and  as 
soon  as  I  place  a  word  I  want  you  to  tell  me  what  it  is." 

Naming  each  word  as  teacher  points.  Pupils  on  qui  vive  for 
speed. — This  process  finished,  she  said,  "As  I  place  an  eraser 
under  each  word,  say  it.     See  if  you  can  say  it  so  fast  I  can  hardly 


IS>2l]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  13 

keep  ahead  of  you That's  fine;    but  if  you  don't  know 

them,  don't  say  them. 

Pujnl  pointed  at  all  words  and  named  all  correctly.— "Now 
Harry  may  say  all  the  words  as  he  holds  the  eraser  under  each. 
Wasn't  that  fine  ?    He  said  every  word  right.     Let's  clap  for  him." 

Blinding  the  eyes  and  then  finding  the  word  pointed  at. — The 
reading  lesson  then  concluded  with  a  new  "blind-the-eyes"  game. 
One  child  blinded  his  eyes  in  the  corner.  Another  ran  to  the  rack, 
held  an  eraser  under  one  word,  e.g.,  "over,"  returned  to  his  seat, 
and  said,  "Ready."  The  child  from  the  comer  stepped  to  the  rack 
and,  placing  the  eraser  under  each  word  in  turn,  said,  "Is  it 
'water'?"  In  unison  the  children  answered,  "No,  it  is  not 
'water,'  "  and  so  on  until  he  said,  "Is  it  'over'?"  whereupon  they 
clapped  their  hands  and  cried,  "Yes,  it  is  'over'." 

Tlie  "old-cat-is-aslcep''  game;  activity,  fun,  moral  training. — As 
a  matter  of  relaxation  and  physical  activity,  the  teacher  then 
introduced  the  children  to  a  game  that  seemed  to  the  observer  to 
be  merely  a  child's  game  (i.e.,  not  a  game  for  teaching  reading), 
namely,  a  game  called  "the  old  cat  is  asleep."  This  is  a  form  of 
the  musical  chair  game.  The  children  played  it  twice  with  zest, 
and  as  some  of  them  tended  to  run  to  the  chairs  before  the  last 
word  of  "cannot  catch  us  "  was  said,  Miss  Hardy  made  an  appropri- 
ate remark  about  "plaving  fair." 

Nine  separate  words  learned  by  si'g/;/.— Subtracting  such  relaxa- 
tion activities,  about  fifteen  minutes  of  actual  reading  activity 
had  been  obser\'ed.  The  children  had  acquired  by  this  time 
greater  familiarity  with  the  printed  lines  and  knew  with  fair 
accuracy  the  nine  separate  words  which  scarcely  any  of  them  had 
been  able  to  name  shortly  before  the  end  of  the  reading  period  of 
the  previous  day. 

SIXTH   DAY   OP   RHYICE   READING 

"The  old  cat  is  asleep." — Unexjiectedly  to  the  obser^'er,  the 
next  day's  reading  period  began  with  the  new  game  "the  old  cat 
is  asleep"  which  had  been  jilayed  the  day  before.  After  jilaying 
the  game  again,  Miss  Hardy  produced  a  chart  with  the  picture 
of  "the  old  cat"  and  the  lines: 


14  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [September 

The  old  cat  is  asleep, 
The  old  cat  is  asleep, 
The  old  cat  is  fast  asleep, 
And  cannot  catch  us. 

Strips  cut  up  before  children's  eyes  to  obtain  phrases  and  words. — 
The  reading  lesson  with  this  material  followed  the  same  plan  as 
the  preceding  ones,  namely,  first  reading  it  as  a  whole,  then  finding 
individual  lines,  then  drill  on  single  phrases  and  words.  This 
time  Miss  Hardy  cut  up  the  separate  strips  or  lines  before  the 
children's  eyes  to  obtain  the  individual  word  cards. 

Examples  of  special  aid  to  slow  pupils. — This  process  helped 
some  of  the  children  considerably,  for  while  some  had  succeeded 
admirably  in  every  activity,  from  reading  the  whole  to  matching 
and  naming  individual  words,  other  children  were  making  very 
slow  progress.  For  example,  one  child  could  not  understand  the 
term  "last  word."  Miss  Hardy  said  to  him,  "Tell  me  the  last 
word  in  this  line,"  as  she  pointed  to  and  read,  "The  old  cat  is 
fast  asleep."  The  child  said,  "The  old  cat  is  fast  asleep."  "No, 
dear,"  said  Miss  Hardy,  "I  want  just  the  last  word.  Now  listen 
for  it  as  I  say  the  line,"  which  she  did  while  pointing  at  each 
word  in  turn.  Again  from  the  child,  the  same  answer,  "The  old 
cat  is  fast  asleep." 

Another  example  of  a  slow  child  occurred  in  identifying  the  word 
"old."  The  child  had  been  given  the  word  card  for  "old"  and  was 
trying  to  match  it  on  either  chart,  the  whole  one  or  the  cut-up  one 
in  the  rack.  He  had  five  chances,  five  "olds"  before  his  eyes,  and 
he  could  not  find  one.  Miss  Hardy  took  the  phrase  "The  old 
cat"  from  the  rack.  She  read  it  with  the  child.  Then  she  cut 
off  "The"  and  asked  what  was  left.  Then  she  cut  off  "cat"  and 
asked  what  was  left.  The  child  said  "old"  and  seemed  to  know 
it.  He  matched  it  correctly  with  the  five  "olds"  which  remained 
in  the  chart  and  rack.  Miss  Hardy  then  gave  the  work  a  "for- 
ward look,"  a  device  which  she  frequently  used,  by  saying  to  the 
class,  "When  we  come  to  read  in  our  story  books  we  want  to  be 
sure  about  this  word  "old"  because  we  shall  read  about  the  old 
woman,  the  old  man,  and  the  old  cat  many  times."  After  about 
two  minutes  of  practice  or  "game"  with  the  last  line,  "And  cannot 


ton]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  15 

catch  us,"  Miss  Hardy  returned  to  the  child  who  had  been  given 
special  practice  with  "old."  Holding  up  the  "old"  card  she  asked, 
"WTiat  does  this  say?"  "Can,"  said  the  boy.  Such  are  the 
difficulties  encountered  by  and  with  slow  learners — difficulties  that 
call  for  the  most  watchful,  sympathetic,  patient,  and  persistent 
individual  attention  from  the  teacher. 

SUBSEQUENT   SPECrFlC   READING   LESSONS   WITH  OTHER  TYPES  OP   MATERIAL 

Goldilocks  and  the  three  bears. — While  the  rhyme  reading  de- 
scribed above  was  being  carried  on  during  the  reading  periods,  the 
children  had  been  concerned  during  the  literature  and  construction 
periods  with  the  experiences  of  Goldilocks  and  the  three  bears. 
The  pupils  had  constructed  in  the  sand  jian  a  paper  house  for  the 
three  bears,  and  had  surrounded  it  with  twigs  and  leaves  to 
represent  a  forest  through  which  roamed,  hand  in  hand,  three 
plasticine  bears. 

Manila-paper  book  oj  reading  selections  made  by  each  child  to 
show  parents. — Each  child  had  also  made  a  book  from  manila 
paper  in  which  to  paste  the  verses  and  stories  which  they  had  been 
reading,  "so  they  could  take  them  home  to  read  to  mama  and 
papa."  Each  child's  copy  of  a  jingle  or  story  was  printed  by 
Miss  Hardy  who  set  up  rubber  letters  in  a  wooden  tyi)e  holder, 
thus  making  a  rubber  stamp  from  which  the  necessary  cojiies  could 
easily  be  made. 

Pupils  composed  story  of  the  three  bears  to  paste  in  book. — \\Tien 
it  came  to  j>utting  the  "three  bears"  story  in  the  books,  the  class 
spent  some  time  in  boiling  it  down  to  a  few  short  lines  that  would 
best  tell  just  what  they  had  done.     They  finally  chose  these: 

We  made  a  house. 
It  is  in  the  woods. 
We  made  three  bears. 

One  is  a  big  bear. 

One  is  a  middle-sized  bear. 

One  is  a  little  bear. 

Reading  practice  with  this  material  as  with  nursery  rhymes. — 
The  reading  practice  with  this  material  followed  the  same  general 
lines  as  described  for  the  nursery  rhymes. 


l6  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURX.\L 

Five  weeks  of  gameful  pre-primer  blackborad  and  chart  reading 
to  initiate  correct  reading  attitudes  and  habits. — Such  gameful  chart 
reading,  gradually  merging  with  reading  of  the  same  materials 
pasted  in  the  books  which  they  made,  constituted  the  reading 
activity  of  the  first  five  or  sLx  weeks.  It  is  one  example  of  the 
common  practice  in  progressive  schools  and  reading  systems  of 
giving  considerable  pre-primer  reading  before  a  regularly  printed 
book  is  begun.  So  many  fundamental  principles  of  psychology 
and  methods  of  teaching  reading  are  involved  that  we  shall  now 
turn  to  the  systematic  exposition  of  them  as  illustrated  by  ]\Iiss 
Hardy's  lessons.  Then  we  shall  describe  concretely  the  second 
and  third  stages  in  developing  skill  in  reading,  namely,  training 
in  reading  in  a  printed  book,  and  training  in  the  independent 
recognition  of  new  words.  The  first  stage,  with  which  we  are 
now  concerned,  is  intended  to  initiate  certain  correct  reading 
attitudes  and  habits  which  may  persist  throughout  the  pupils' 
later  reading  in  and  out  of  school.  In  the  next  instalment  we  shall 
present  nine  principles  or  rules  which  justify  the  detailed  devices 
for  teaching  pre-primer  blackboard  and  chart  reading  as  described. 


ARTICLE  II 

II.       PRE-PRIMER   BLACKBOARD    AND    CHART   READING 
[Continued] 

B.      PRINCIPLES 

I.  Iniliale  correct  reading  altitudes;  not  mere  word-calling. — 
Perhaps  the  most  important  principle  of  teaching  reading  which  is 
illustrated  by  Miss  Hardy's  pre-primer  lessons  is  the  necessity  of 
giving  the  pupils  a  correct  attitude  toward  the  reading  material. 
We  may  easily  illustrate  what  we  mean  by  using  a  negative  example, 
namely,  we  do  not  want  the  child  to  form  the  attitude  of  merely 
trying  to  pronounce  words  without  regard  for  their  meanings.  Yet 
this  was  the  dominant  attitude  of  first-grade  children  in  much  of 
the  old-fashioned  teaching  of  reading,  in  which  a  child  stood  up 
with  a  book  in  his  hand  and,  with  his  eye  glued  upon  each  word  in 
turn,  haltingly  read,  "This"— "is"— "a"— "cat." 

Varieties  of  reading  attitudes;  poetry  versus  headlines,  "funnies" 
versus  Gettysburg  address. — Just  how  to  define  or  describe  the  correct 
initial  reading  attitude  is  slightly  difficult  because  the  attitudes 
differ  somewhat  with  different  types  of  reading  material.  For 
e.xample,  contrast  the  attitudes  in  reading  poetry  and  in  rapidly 
scanning  a  newspaper  column.  In  the  poetry  reading  your  attitude 
is  likely  to  include  enjoying  the  hit  and  swing  of  the  rhythm,  and 
your  reading,  consequently,  will  include  careful  rhythmic  phrasing. 
In  the  newspaper  scanning  your  attitude  is  one  of  neglecting  much 
of  the  material  and  actively  "grabbing  off"  a  few  ideas  or  state- 
ments. Another  e.\ample  of  contrasting  attitudes  in  reading  is 
found  in  reading  the  "funnies"  in  the  newspaper  and  reading 
Lincoln's  Gettysburg  address.     We  do  not  need  to  describe  the 


1 8  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [October 

different  attitudes  in  these  two  cases,  since  they  are  so  ob\dously 
different.  The  emotional  "set"  of  our  mind  in  the  case  of  reading 
the  "funnies"  is  such  that  it  shocks  us  to  think  of  approaching 
Lincohi's  address  with  the  same  attitude. 

Gelling  meaningful  and  inleresting  experiences  from  the  earliest 
reading. — These  variations  in  reading  attitudes  become  of  very 
great  practical  importance  in  training  in  skilled  reading;  for 
example,  training  a  pupil  to  enjoy  reading  poetry  involves  a  very 
different  type  of  practice  from  training  him  to  scan  a  newspaper 
column  economical!}'  and  efifectively.  As  related  to  training  in 
various  types  of  skilled  silent  reading,  such  variations  in  reading 
attitudes  should  be  discussed  in  great  detail.  For  our  present 
purposes,  however,  it  is  sufficient  to  note  that  perhaps  the  biggest 
factor  in  determining  Miss  Hardy's  method  of  approaching  reading 
is  the  desire  to  make  it  as  much  like  real  reading  as  possible  from 
the  very  beginning.  In  such  real  reading,  the  attitude  of  getting 
some  type  of  meaningful  and  interesting  experience  from  the 
printed  material  is  a  dominant  feature. 

2.  Meaningful  content  necessary.  Action  words,  incidental  read- 
ing.— In  order  to  develop  the  attitude  of  getting  meaning  from 
printed  material,  it  is  necessary  to  select  content  that  is  especially 
suited  to  this  purpose.  The  simple  action  words  with  which  Miss 
Hardy  began  furnish  an  admirable  example,  for,  when  such  words 
as  "hop"  and  "skip"  are  written  on  the  board  as  commands,  not 
only  does  the  attention  center  on  the  meaning,  but  the  pupil  must 
grasp  the  meaning  before  he  can  execute  the  command.  Similarly, 
when  such  words  as  "barn"  or  "house"  appear  on  the  plan  of  the 
farm  which  is  to  be  made  in  the  sand  pan,  the  attention  naturally 
centers  on  their  meaning. 

Nursery  rhymes  give  a  complex  experience  which  constitutes  their 
meaning. — When  we  come  to  the  nursery  rhymes,  however,  the 
meanings  to  be  gotten  from  the  reading  become  much  more  com- 
plex, since  the  whole  complex  experience  of  a  child's  enjoyment  of 
a  nursery  rhyme  is  involved.  This  experience  consists  of  much 
more  than  understanding  the  individual  words  or  even  under- 
standing all  the  phrases.  This  fact  may  be  illustrated  by  the 
reading  experiences  of  a  colleague  who  says  that  at  least  once  a 


rg2i\  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  IQ 

year  he  gets  hungry  to  read  certain  of  Poe's  poems,  and,  conse- 
quently, has  read  them  many  times.  "Yet,"  he  says,  "for  the 
Hfe  of  me,  I  can't  tell  what  Poe  is  talking  about  in  several  places." 
Similarly,  in  teaching  children  to  read  "Jack  and  Jill"  we  are 
concerned  primarily  with  giving  them  the  big  reading  experiences 
which  children  naturally  get  from  such  material.  Necessarily,  this 
will  include  an  understanding  of  most  of  the  words  and  phrases 
such  as  "went  up  the  hill"  and  "came  tumbling  after."  The 
picture  above  the  rh\Tne  helps  some  children  in  getting  these  ideas. 
It  would  hardly  be  desirable,  however,  to  dwell  at  any  length  on 
the  meaning  of  "broke  his  crown."  In  fact,  I  have  often  wondered 
what  notion  a  child  associates  with  this  phrase.  Certainly,  it  would 
not  be  pleasing  to  give  him  a  vivid,  gruesome  picture  of  a  child 
with  a  broken  head. 

"Meaningful  content"  and  "meaningful  experience"  need  broad 
interpretation. — These  simple  examples  help  us  to  get  farther  and 
farther  away  from  the  practice  of  mere  word-pronouncing  as 
characteristic  of  reading.  We  are  dissatisfied  not  only  with  mere 
word-pronouncing,  but  also  with  mere  understanding  of  isolated 
words  and  phrases.  What  we  need  in  the  reading  of  continuous 
material,  from  the  very  first  lessons,  is  the  grasp  of  large  meanings, 
the  enjoyment  of  complex  experiences  which  go  far  beyond  the 
meanings  of  the  individual  words  that  relate  them.  Among  the 
most  characteristic  of  such  experiences  in  childhood  are  those 
associated  with  nursery  rhj-mes.  By  introducing  these  early  into 
the  reading,  we  are  providing  the  child  with  meaningful  content, 
the  total  significance  of  which  he  readily  grasps,  and  the  detailed 
words  and  phrases  of  which  he  sufhciently  understands. 

3.  Delightful  content  cultivates  the  desire  to  read. — The  reading 
attitude  which  we  should  endeavor  to  cultivate  in  children  includes 
not  only  the  tendency  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  printed  material,  but 
also  an  active  desire  to  read  more  and  more.  Wc  want  the  pupil 
to  feel  that  reading  furnishes  delightful  experiences.  We  want  to 
cultivate  in  him  the  tendency  to  take  up  books  and  read  them  with 
the  same  spontaneity  and  zeal  with  which  he  enters  into  games,  or 
the  same  entranced  delight  with  which  he  listens  to  a  story  being 
told.     This  furnishes  another  reason  for  the  choice  of  interesting 


20  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOXHINAL  [OcUjber 

nursery  rhymes  or  such  stories  as  "Goldilocks  and  the  Three 
Bears."  When  we  come  to  the  primer  reading,  we  shall  see  how 
thoroughly  this  idea  is  being  carried  out  by  fiJUng  the  books  with 
all  the  treasures  of  childhood's  fairyland  of  myth  and  fable,  adven- 
ture and  romance. 

4.  Get  the  whole  thought  of  experience,  then  subdivide  for  reading 
practice. — From  the  idea  expressed,  namely,  that  reading  from  the 
very  beginning  should  present  meaningful  interesting  experiences 
to  children,  it  follows  naturally  that  the  reading  of  any  one  selection 
should  begin  with  its  fundamental  story  features.  After  these  have 
been  adequately  treated,  then  the  content  may  be  subdivided  for  a 
number  of  forms  of  reading  practice.  In  Miss  Hardy's  lessons  we 
find  the  following  steps  are  taken  in  proceeding  from  the  whole  story 
to  the  study  of  individual  words:  (a)  The  pupils  learn  the  whole 
nursery  rhyme  or  compose  orally  the  whole  story  of  Goldilocks  in 
the  exact  words  in  which  it  is  later  to  be  read,  (b)  They  tell  the 
teacher  exactly  how  to  write  the  whole  story  on  the  board,  (c) 
They  read  the  story  as  a  whole,  (d)  They  learn  to  recognize 
individual  Hnes  and  phrases,  (e)  They  learn  to  recognize  and 
remember  the  individual  words. 

The  lessons  which  we  described  show  that  much  of  the  refined 
technique  of  teaching  pre-primer  reading  depends  upon  the  skilful 
carrying  out  of  the  foregoing  processes  in  the  order  indicated. 
The  prospective  teacher  of  first-grade  reading  should  study  Miss 
Hardy's  devices,  from  this  point  of  view,  in  great  detail.  For  our 
more  general  purposes  we  may  note  briefly  three  features  of  her 
practice,  namely,  (a)  the  careful  preparatory  steps  before  presenting 
the  printed  or  written  whole,  (b)  the  training  of  pupils  to  recognize 
individual  lines  and  phrases,  and  (c)  the  necessity  and  value  of 
familiarizing  them  with  individual  words. 

Careful  preparation  before  reading  includes  exact  memorizing  of 
rhymes  or  stories. — The  exact  memorizing  of  the  rhyme  or  story 
before  reading  it  is  necessary  in  order  that  there  may  be  no  con- 
fusion when  the  reading  begins.  For  example,  when  the  children 
first  recited  "Jack  and  Jill,"  some  of  them  said  "fetch"  and  others 
said  "get  a  pail  of  water."  By  adopting  one  of  these  and  discarding 
the  other,  the  chance  for  a  confusing  association  was  avoided. 


192']  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  a  I 

Moreover,  in  the  case  of  children  from  illiterate  or  poor  or  non- 
literary  families,  there  are  sure  to  be  some  who  are  unfamiliar  with 
the  rhyme.  The  result  of  such  careful  preparation  is  that  all  the 
children  have  the  full  meaning  and  oral  statement  exactly  in  mind 
and  are  intensely  interested  in  telling  the  teacher  what  to  write. 
They  are  thus  prepared  to  read  it  as  an  interesting,  meaningful 
whole.  As  suggested,  this  constitutes  one  of  the  finest  points  in 
the  expert  teaching  of  the  first  lessons  in  reading  and  is  in  striking 
contrast  with  the  child's  first  experiences  in  the  old-fashioned 
teaching  of  reading  in  which  he  haltingly  attacked  individual  words 
and  struggled  through  hours  of  meaningless  drudgery. 

Children  may  easily  learn  to  recognize  short  phrases  as  wholes. 
An  important  reading  attitude. — After  the  whole  rhyme  or  story  had 
been  written  or  printed.  Miss  Hardy  conducted  a  number  of  games 
in  which  the  children  handled,  read,  and  recognized  individual  lines 
or  phrases.  The  possibility  of  recognizing  such  units  has  long 
been  a  well-known  fact  to  psychologists  and  is  easily  proved  by 
the  success  of  the  children  in  doing  it.  The  justification  for  making 
it  the  second  step  in  the  reading  of  the  rhyme  is  the  desire  to  train 
pupils  to  think  in  such  large  meaningful  units  while  reading.  This 
is  another  factor  in  establishing  correct  reading  attitudes  which  we 
have  emphasized  throughout  the  discussion.  In  skilled  continuous 
reading,  we  do  not  read  by  words  alone,  but  rather  in  units  of 
meaning  of  which  the  single  words  are  merely  the  skeleton  structure. 
While  the  beginning  pupil  must  go  through  many  years  of  practice 
before  he  can  reach  the  general  facility  in  phrase  recognition  that 
characterizes  the  skilful,  trained  reader,  he  can  learn  some  phrases 
at  the  very  beginning;  and,  more  important  still,  he  can  make  the 
modest  beginnings  of  a  reading  attitude  or  reading  habit  which  will 
prove  of  vital  importance  later.  A  detail  of  Miss  Hardy's  tech- 
nique which  illustrates  her  careful  thought  about  the  pupils' 
possibilities  in  phrase  recognition  is  found  in  her  writing  of  the 
first  Unes  of  "Jack  and  Jill."  When  the  children  told  her  to  write 
"Jack  and  Jill  went  up  the  hill,"  she  skilfully  broke  it  into  two 
lines,  thus. 

Jack  and  Jill 

Went  up  the  hill. 


22  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [October 

It  is  obvious  that  the  two  phrase  units  which  are  thus  secured 
are  much  better  suited  for  recognition  by  beginning  readers  than 
the  single  long  line  in  which  they  were  combined. 

Word  recognition  necessary  and  possible. — It  is  ob\ious,  however, 
that  we  need  to  go  farther  than  phrase  recognition  and  familiarize 
the  pupil  with  individual  words  in  order  that  he  maj'  use  these  as 
tools  wherever  they  appear  in  his  reading.  For  example,  the  child 
who  has  learned  the  word  "Jack"  in  "Jack  be  nimble"  can  use  it 
as  an  aid  in  learning  "Jack  and  Jill."  Similarly,  he  can  use  other 
single  words  from  the  first  rh>Tne  in  reading  the  second  one,  such  as 
"the  "  and  "and."  The  possibility  of  learning  such  individual  words 
"by  sight"  is  another  item  ascertained  by  the  psychologists  at  the 
same  time  that  they  found  out  about  phrase  recognition.  The 
obvious  success  of  children  in  doing  it  leaves  no  doubt  of  the 
possibility.  During  their  pre-primer  reading  in  Miss  Hardy's 
room,  most  of  the  children  became  thoroughly  familiar  with  many 
sight  words  which  they  could  recognize  and  use  in  reading  new 
material. 

Four  principles  summarized:  correct  attitudes;  meaningful  con- 
tent; desire  to  read;  analytical  learning. — The  four  principles  of 
teaching  reading  which  we  have  discussed  up  to  this  point  maj'  be 
summarized  as  follows:  (i)  Pre-primer  reading  should  initiate  the 
correct  reading  attitude  of  trjdng  to  get  meaningful  and  interesting 
experiences  from  printed  or  written  material.  (2)  To  cultivate 
this  attitude,  content  such  as  action  words  and  nursery  rhymes 
should  be  selected  which  entices  the  pupils  to  focus  their  attention 
upon  the  meanings.  (3)  The  attitude  of  desiring  to  read  is  also 
initiated  by  the  intense  interest  which  children  attach  to  nursery 
rhymes  and  stories.  (4)  In  beginning  the  reading  of  any  selection, 
the  whole  thought  or  experience  should  receive  first  attention; 
then  the  material  may  be  subdivided  into  lines,  phrases,  and 
individual  words  for  reading  practice.  These  points  describe  the 
method  of  approaching  reading  that  is  securing  more  and  more 
general  adoption  in  progressive  elementary  schools.  We  shall  now 
consider  certain  further  general  principles  of  teaching  as  they  apply 
to  the  teaching  of  reading  and  were  illustrated  in  Miss  Hardy's 
lessons. 


IQ2I]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  23 

5.  A  single  center  of  attention  is  secured  by  chart  and  blackboard 
reading. — When  a  class  has  its  first  reading  lessons  from  a  book 
instead  of  the  blackboard  or  a  chart,  it  is  difficult  for  the  teacher 
to  make  sure  that  the  children  are  all  giving  their  attention  to  the 
line  or  phrase  or  word  which  is  being  discussed.  On  the  other  hand, 
with  the  material  on  the  blackboard  or  on  a  chart,  it  is  easy  for  the 
teacher  or  a  child  to  point  at  a  certain  portion  of  it  and  direct  the 
attention  of  all  interested  pupils  to  the  same  point.  This  is  one  of 
the  greatest  advantages  of  using  a  blackboard  in  any  kind  of 
instruction,  and  every  teacher  should  become  skilled  in  blackboard 
writing  and  drawing  and  be  resourceful  in  devising  occasions  to 
secure  attention  and  clarify  ideas  by  these  means.  In  the  complex 
activities  which  Miss  Hardy  directed,  it  is  obvious  that  much  of 
the  success  depended  upon  the  single  objective  center  which 
secured  immediate,  spontaneous,  and  rapt  attention  of  most  of 
the  pupils. 

6.  Special  equipment  of  charts  and  word  cards  improves  technique. 
— The  use  of  a  chart  as  the  single  objective  center  of  attention  in 
the  first  reading  lessons  is  merely  one  example  of  the  enormous 
improvements  that  are  made  possible  in  teaching  by  slight  enrich- 
ments or  modifications  of  the  equipment.  In  the  case  of  teaching 
reading,  other  important  items  are  the  single  lines  on  separate 
strips  and  the  word  cards.  With  the  single  lines  on  long  strips, 
Miss  Hardy  had  some  difficulty  until  she  found  the  special  rack 
into  which  they  could  be  easily  fitted.  This  rack  is  known  as  the 
"Plymouth  Chart"  and  consists  of  a  long  sheet  of  paper  with 
horizontal  ledges  or  grooves  into  which  the  strips  can  be  easily 
inserted,  even  by  the  children  who  naturally  take  delight  in  doing 
it.  Most  of  the  commercialized  reading  systems  now  furnish 
charts  and  word  cards  for  their  early  lessons.  In  case  a  resourceful 
teacher  desires  to  compose  her  own  lessons,  as  Miss  Hardy  did,  she 
may  procure  an  outfit  of  large  t>'pe,  such  as  is  used  by  merchants 
in  printing  signs,  and  sheets  of  manila  tag  board,  23J  by  283  inches. 
In  view  of  the  complex  responsibilities  which  confront  a  teacher 
in  her  first  year  of  teaching,  it  would  probably  be  well  for  the 
beginner  to  use  some  of  the  ready-made  materials  which  are  in 
accord  with  the  principles  of  teaching  reading  here  described. 


24  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [October 

Bulletin  board  for  incidental  reading. — The  beginner  may  supple- 
ment such  ready-made  material  -with  a  variety  of  homemade 
charts,  some  of  which  may  be  thumb-tacked  on  the  bulletin  board, 
another  important  item  of  equipment.  The  surface  of  the  bulletin 
board  is  best  made  of  sheet  cork.  As  noted  in  the  first  article,  a 
"line  for  the  day"  makes  attractive  incidental  reading  matter  to 
bulletin;  also  pictures  cut  from  magazines  and  illustrating  some 
of  the  activities  of  the  class  may  be  used  to  good  effect.  To  these 
pictures  may  be  added  attractive  legends  in  large  letters.  In  case 
a  teacher  does  not  possess  a  printing  outfit,  or  lacks  the  time  to 
use  it,  she  may  easily  acquire  skill  in  lettering  with  black  crayon 
sufficient  to  dash  off  these  legends  very  rapidly.  Even  in  very 
poor  circumstances,  a  bulletin  situation  could  be  devised  by  using 
a  corner  of  the  blackboard  and  writing  with  chalk. 

7.  Organize  interesting  activities,  particularly  gatnes,  with  the 
reading  materials. — Some  educators  have  believed  that  the  desire 
to  read  is  sufficient  in  itself  to  maintain  the  interest  necessary  for 
acquiring  skill  in  reading.  It  takes  only  a  little  knowledge  of  the 
complexity  and  difficulty  of  the  process  of  learning  reading,  how- 
ever, to  show  us  that  very  few  children  would  acquire  sufficient 
skill  merely  from  this  motive.  Moreover,  as  already  pointed  out, 
the  desire  to  read  is  not  a  condition  which  we  assume  to  e.xist  in 
the  pupils,  but  is  to  be  a  product  of  our  teaching  of  reading  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  make  all  reading  experiences  delightful.  In  the 
discussion  of  this  point,  the  opportunities  for  providing  inherently 
delightful  material  for  the  pupils  were  stressed  as  a  means  to  aid  in 
creating  the  desire  to  read  throughout  life.  Our  present  point  is 
to  emphasize  interesting  activities  with  this  material  as  a  means  of 
securing  the  attentive  practice  and  repetition  which  are  necessary 
to  create  automatic  skill  in  reading. 

Practice  sugar-coated  with  games;  the  open  sesame  of  childhood. — 
The  greatest  basis  of  interesting  practice  activities  in  pre-primer 
reading  is  the  pupils'  intense  interest  in  games.  The  phrase  "play 
a  game"  is  the  open-sesame  charm  which  progressive  teachers  now 
use  throughout  the  grades  to  secure  rapt  attention  in  all  types  of 
practice — in  handwriting,  spelling,  reading,  arithmetic,  and  lan- 
guage.    Attentive  effective  practice  and  learning  can  be  secured 


igii]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  2$ 

with  all  kinds  of  educative  materials  provided  they  are  sugar- 
coated  with  games  which  require  concentrated  attention  upon  the 
educative  activities.  Miss  Hardy's  lessons  abounded  in  illustra- 
tions. The  children  played  the  game  of  "finding  the  line  which 
says,"  gave  close  attention  to  the  several  lines  as  an  essential  part 
of  the  game,  and  learned  to  recognize  the  lines  readily  as  the 
educative  result.  In  the  "moving-picture-show"  game  of  flashing 
cards,  the  pupils  were  eagerly  expectant  and  raptly  attentive  to 
each  card  as  flashed,  and  learned  to  name  the  words  rapidly  and 
automatically  as  the  educative  result.  The  begirming  teacher  of 
first-grade  reading  should  study  carefully  such  gameful  devices  for 
securing  interest  and  attentive  educative  practice. 

8.  Drill  games  require  alertness  and  refined  leaching  technique. — 
The  effective  conduct  of  drill  games  demands  considerable  automatic 
skill  from  the  teacher.  I  was  impressed  with  this  fact  in  watching 
a  practice  teacher  in  the  first  grade.  She  had  planned  about  six 
little  games  with  word  cards  to  consume  about  ten  minutes.  In 
order  that  she  might  keep  her  games  in  mind,  she  had  written  in 
an  obscure  corner  of  the  side  board  a  list  of  them  in  letters  very 
small  but  sufficiently  large  for  her  to  see.  As  a  consequence,  she 
was  able  to  keep  her  program  in  mind  and  maintain  the  zeal  and 
"pep"  which  are  characteristic  of  active  games.  While  she  did 
quite  well  in  her  teaching,  I  could  feel  the  same  contrast  between 
her  technique  and  Miss  Hardy's  that  one  feels  between  the  move- 
ments of  a  beginner  in  skating  or  basket  ball,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  smoothly  moving  professional  in  these  activities,  on  the  other 
hand. 

Q.  Careful  attention  to  individual  differences  in  capacity  to  learn 
reading.  Grouping  first-graders  according  to  ability. — As  a  final 
principle  to  be  noted  in  discussing  pre-primer  reading,  we  may  note 
the  necessity  of  adapting  the  teaching  to  the  varied  abilities  of 
the  pupils.  In  the  preceding  article  we  noted  cases  of  two  espe- 
cially slow  pupils,  one  who  couldn't  pick  out  the  "last  word"  in  a 
line  and  the  other  who  failed  to  recognize  the  word  "old"  two 
minutes  after  he  had  been  given  thorough  drill  upon  it.  At  the 
opposite  e.xtreme,  we  find  children  of  five  years  of  age  who  have  a 
natural  talent  for  learning  to  read  and  do  so  with  little  difticulty. 


26  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [October 

In  progressive  first  grades,  during  the  pre-primer  reading,  the 
pupils  are  carefully  studied  and  grouped  and  regrouped  according 
to  the  abilities  they  exhibit  in  learning  to  read.  For  example, 
Miss  Hardy's  group  which  was  observed  was  the  brighter  of  two 
groups  that  had  been  given  no  previous  instruction  in  reading.  At 
the  end  of  five  weeks  of  pre-primer  reading,  the  slower  group  was 
about  one  week  behind  this  brighter  group.  An  even  more 
advanced  group  consisted  of  children  who  had  been  instructed  in 
reading  in  the  kindergarten. 

Skill  from  pre-primer  reading  makes  book  reading  easy. — In 
general,  the  scientific  studies  of  the  maturing  of  children's  abilities, 
as  well  as  the  success  of  progressive,  gameful  methods  of  teaching 
pre-primer  reading,  demonstrate  that  most  children  are  mature 
enough  to  learn  the  art  of  easy  reading  at  sLx  years  of  age.  In  the 
blackboard  and  chart  reading,  these  children  experience  httle  or 
no  difiiculty.  When  they  come  to  book  reading,  the  skill  which 
they  have  acquired  during  the  five  weeks  of  pre-primer  reading 
simpHfies  their  difiiculties  enormously,  so  that  with  simple,  familiar 
material  they  readily  read  page  after  page  with  joy  and  delight. 
In  the  next  section  of  the  discussion  we  shall  describe  concretely 
Miss  Hardy's  first  lessons  with  the  primer  and  then  discuss  the 
additional  principles  of  teaching  reading  which  these  book  lessons 
illustrate.  Before  turning  to  the  book  reading,  we  may  profitably 
summarize  briefly  the  nine  principles  of  teaching  reading  presented 
in  this  section. 

Summary  of  rules  for  teaching  pre-primer  reading. — These  nine 
rules  may  be  phrased  as  follows: 

1.  Initiate  the  correct  reading  attitude  of  trying  to  get  mean- 
ingful and  interesting  experiences  from  printed  material. 

2.  Provide  meaningful  content. 

3.  Create  a  desire  to  read  through  delightful  interesting  content. 

4.  Proceed  analytically  from  the  whole  story  to  lines  and  phrases 
and  then  to  individual  words. 

5.  Secure  a  single  objective  center  for  the  attention  of  all  pupils 
by  begiiming  with  blackboard  or  chart  reading. 

6.  Provide  a  special  equipment  of  charts,  cards,  pictures, 
legends,  and  a  bulletin  board  to  facilitate  reading  practice. 


7P2/1  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  27 

7.  Organize  interesting  activaties  to  secure  the  attentive  repe- 
tition needed  to  give  automatic  skill  in  the  elements  of  reading. 

8.  Master  the  technique  of  conducting  drill  games. 

9.  Group  pupils  according  to  their  natural  talent  or  advance- 
ment in  reading  and  give  special  individual  attention  to  the  slow 
learners. 

III.       BEGINNING    BOOK    KE/VDING 
A.      SAMPLE    LESSONS 

First  selection  read  previously  from  chart.  Easy  transition. — The 
reading  from  charts  which  we  have  described  continued  in  Miss 
Hardy's  room  during  the  first  five  weeks  of  school.  The  transition 
was  then  made  to  reading  from  a  regular  "primer."  This  transi- 
tion was  rendered  easy  by  having  the  last  chart  contain  the  first 
story  of  the  primer  in  exactly  the  same  form. 

FAUIUAEIZING   POPILS   WITH   THE   NEW   BOOKS 

Children  eager  to  possess  and  read  the  promised  books. — Before 
beginning  the  first  lesson  with  the  books,  Miss  Hardy  asked,  "What 
was  it  I  said  we  were  going  to  have  today?"  "Books!"  cried  the 
children,  "Where  are  they?"  and  other  exclamations  in  joyous 
tones.  "Shall  I  get  them?"  queried  Miss  Hardy.  "Yes!  yes!" 
The  teacher  then  brought  out  the  pile  of  new  books,  and  the  class 
counted  the  children  and  the  books  and  found  one  book  too  many. 
This  was  laid  aside  for  an  absent  child. 

Compared  with  pasted  books  and  similar  home  copies. — Miss 
Hardy  held  up  one  copy  and  said:  "See,  this  book  has  a  name  just 
as  we  have  names  for  the  books  we  have  been  making.  The  name 
here  is  'Primer.'  Here  are  also  the  names  of  the  two  people  who 
wrote  the  stories  for  us,  and  here  is  the  name  of  the  person  who 
made  all  the  nice  pictures  in  it."  Many  of  the  children  recognized 
the  book  as  one  their  older  brothers  or  sisters  had  owned  and 
volunteered,  "We  have  a  book  at  home  just  like  that,"  or  similar 
comments.  "I  shall  give  each  child  a  book,"  said  Miss  Hardy. 
"Look  through  it  quickly  to  see  if  there  is  anything  you  know." 

Children  jreely  examined  books  and  volunteered  comments. — Upon 
receiving  the  books  there  were  many  exclamations.  "Oh!  there 
is  the  Gingerbread  Boy,"  "My  pages  are  all  stuck  together,"  "I 
can  read  this  story,"  etc. 


28  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [October 

Child's  request  for  certain  story  led  to  table  of  contents. — One  boy 
wanted  to  know  if  a  certain  story  was  in  the  book.  The  teacher 
told  him  to  look  at  the  table  of  contents,  then  asked  all  the  children 
to  look.  Some  of  the  children  began  to  count  the  titles  of  the 
stories  in  the  table  of  contents.  About  five  minutes  were  consumed 
in  permitting  the  children  such  random,  spontaneous  activity  with 
the  book. 

Manila  line-marker  to  each  child;  table  of  contents  read. — Miss 
Hardy  then  brought  the  group  to  attention  by  saying,  "Look  up 
here,  everyone.  I  am  going  to  give  you  each  a  marker,"  showing 
a  strip  of  durable  manila  paper  about  4  inches  long  and  i  inch  wide. 
"Place  it  under  the  name  of  the  first  story,  and  then  move  it  down 
as  I  read  each  name The  first  line  says  what?"  The  chil- 
dren gave  this  title  as  they  had  learned  it  on  the  chart.  "And  what 
page  ?"  The  children  answered  correctly.  The  teacher  then  read 
each  succeeding  line,  meanwhile  watching  the  group  closely  and 
assisting  slow  pupils  to  move  their  markers  to  the  appropriate  lines. 

READING   or   FIRST   STORY 

Story  first  told  by  children  from  its  successive  pictures. — "Now  all 
turn  to  the  first  story,"  said  the  teacher.  The  children  quickly 
recognized  it  as  the  one  from  the  last  chart.     "Let's  all  look  at 

the  pictures  together  to  see  if  it  is  the  same  story  we  know 

What  is  happening  in  the  first  picture  ?  .  .  .  .  What  do  you  see  in 
the  second  picture  ?"  and  so  on  until  all  the  pictures  had  been 
examined  and  the  story  of  each  told  by  the  children. 

Rapid  reading.  Markers  moved  carefully;  line  scanned  silently; 
hands  raised;  chosen  pupil  read  line  orally. — "Now  turn  back  to  the 
first  page,"  directed  Miss  Hardy,  "and  we  shall  read  the  story. 
....  Put   your   markers   under   the   title.     Always   keep   your 

markers  very  still.     Read  the  title Gideon Now  put 

your  markers  under  the  first  line  and  get  ready  to  tell  what  it  says. 

Read  silently John,  read  it  to  us Now  the  next 

line.  Move  your  markers;  study  it;  read  silently.  Then  raise 
your  hand  to  tell  me  what  it  says."  As  the  children  proceeded 
there  were  exclamations  of  "I  know,"  etc.,  and  giggles  of  delight 
at  recognizing  the  familiar  lines.  Occasionally  the  class  read  a 
difficult  line  in  unison.     Several  pages  were  easily  read  in  a  few 


I92I]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  29 

minutes,  Miss  Hardy  showing  the  children  how  the  story  continued 
from  the  bottom  of  a  left-hand  page  to  the  top  of  a  right-hand 
page,  etc. 

Each  child  became  "responsible"  for  his  own  book. — At  the  end 
of  the  hour  the  teacher  said,  "Put  your  markers  in  the  books  and 
close  them.  Notice  how  clean  your  markers  are.  They  will  keep 
clean  if  you  use  them  only  for  markers.  Each  child  is  responsible 
for  his  own  book.  Do  you  remember  we  learned  yesterday  what 
'responsible'  means?  ....  Put  them  in  your  desks  carefully." 

REAOrNG  OF  SECOND  STORY 

Preparation.  Dramatic  telling  by  teacher;  second  telling  -unlh 
new  word  cards;  flash  practice  with  cards. — Reading  the  second  story 
in  the  primer  marked  another  step  in  advance  because  this  was 
done  without  preliminary  reading  of  it  on  a  chart.  However, 
careful  preparation  was  made  for  the  new  story  by  spending  a  whole 
reading  period  upon  it  before  opening  the  books.  This  preparatory 
period  contained  three  steps  as  follows:  (i)  The  teacher  told  the 
story  in  the  e.xact  words  of  the  book,  bringing  out  clearly  its  dra- 
matic interest.  (2)  She  retold  it  and  held  up  appropriate  word 
cards  or  phrases  which  were  peculiarly  characteristic  of  the  story 
or  repeated  frequently  in  it.  (3)  She  then  used  these  cards  in  a 
flash  drill,  closely  relating  them  to  the  story  by  such  remarks  as, 
"Don't  you  remember?  This  is  the  name  of  the  second  animal 
he  met,"  etc. 

The  reading  of  this  second  story  on  the  following  day,  in  the 
books,  proceeded  largely  as  in  the  case  of  the  first  story,  according 
to  the  following  steps: 

Children  told  the  story  from  the  pictures. — About  fi\'e  minutes 
were  spent  in  examining  the  pictures  one  after  another,  and  having 
the  children  tell  the  story  from  them.  There  was  much  free 
expression  by  the  children  in  this  stage,  but  the  teacher  also,  by 
skilful  questioning,  got  them  to  u.se  many  of  the  exact  phrases  as 
they  would  appear  in  the  reading. 

Actual  reading.  Markers;  units  of  one  or  more  lines;  teacher 
suggests  content  of  lines;  rebukes  careless  pupil;  aids  slow  pupil; 
commends  good  reading. — After  e.xamining  all  the  pictures,  they 


30  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL 

returned  to  the  first  page  of  the  story  and,  using  their  markers, 
read  systematically  through  several  pages.  The  following  remarks 
by  the  teacher  will  add  the  local  color  of  the  situation.     "Turn 

back  to  the  first  page Now,  if  everybody  does  everything 

just  right,  we  can  read  far  today Read  the  first  line  silently ; 

then  one  of  you  may  read  it  to  the  group.     It  names  one  of  the 

characters  in  the  story Now  see  what  the  next  sentence 

says The  last  sentence  says  what?     It  begins  with  'So.' 

....  Now  we  have  two  lines  to  read  together.     This  is  harder, 

isn't  it  ?    But  we  can  do  it  all  right  if  we  use  our  markers 

The  next  line  tells  what  he  [referring  to  the  hero  of  the  story]  does. 
Are  you  ready,  Allison  ?  That's  the  fourth  time  you  dropped  your 
book.  When  children  drop  their  books  four  times  that  means  they 
aren't  ready  for  them.  [Allison  didn't  drop  his  book  again.]  The 
next  three  lines  tell  what  the  boy  says.  All  read  silently  and  then 
raise  your  hands.     Now  all  move  your  markers  back  and  we  will 

read  these  three  lines  together Does  some  word  puzzle  you 

there,  John?  ....  Wait  a  minute,  Franklin,  it's  this  line,  here 
[constantly  watching  the  compact  Uttle  circle  of  readers  to  aid 

individual  pupils  who  were  in  difl&culty] Good  for  you, 

Mary,  but  I  could  hardly  hear  you.     Read  it  again." 

Coherent,  rapid,  meaningful  reading.  Drill  relegated  to  separate 
period. — With  such  coherent  group  reading,  aided  by  alert  attention 
of  the  teacher  to  the  needs  of  individual  pupils,  the  story  was 
rapidly  completed.  In  order  to  make  this  type  of  rapid,  mean- 
ingful reading  the  dominant  activity  of  the  reading  period,  most 
of  the  repetitional  drill  work  on  individual  words  had  now  been 
assigned  to  separate  periods  which  were  called  "word  study." 
Before  turning  to  a  description  of  this  activitj-,  we  shall  discuss 
some  of  the  general  principles  of  teaching  beginning  reading  which 
may  be  illustrated  bj'  the  book  lessons  described. 


ARTICLE  ni 

in.      BEGINNING   BOOK  READING 
[Conlinued] 

B.      PRINCIPLES 

1.  Secure  cantinuous,  coherent,  rapid,  meaningful  reading. — The 
largest  factor  in  determining  the  nature  of  the  tirst  lessons  in 
book  reading  which  were  described  in  the  preceding  article  is 
probably  the  desire  to  continue  the  formation  of  correct  reading 
attitudes  and  habits  by  facilitating  continuous,  coherent,  rapid, 
meaningful  reading  by  the  pupils.  This  purpose  predominated 
throughout  the  pre-priraer  reading  and  is  easily  realized  in  the 
early  book  lessons  as  a  result  of  the  skill  acquired  in  the  pre-primer 
reading.  To  the  observer  who  is  unfamiliar  with  progressive  methods 
in  teaching  reading,  it  is  a  revelation  to  see  first-grade  children  dur- 
ing their  first  three  or  four  days  with  book  reading  rapidly  complete 
some  twenty  pages  of  storied  material  with  interest,  comprehension, 
fluency,  and  dispatch. 

2.  Complexities  of  first  book  reading  simplified  by  first  reading 
same  story  on  the  chart. — Reading  in  a  book  for  the  first  time 
requires  many  complex  mental  and  muscular  activities  of  the  pupil. 
These  include  not  only  mental  attention  to  the  forms  of  the  words, 
phrases,  and  sentences,  but  also  dilBculties  in  holding  the  book  and 
especially  in  moving  the  eyes  from  word  to  word  and  from  the 
end  of  one  line  to  the  beginning  of  the  next.  If  the  pupil  has  had 
no  preliminary  reading  practice,  it  is  futile  to  expect  coherent, 
continuous,  smooth  reading  under  such  complicated,  trying  condi- 
tions.    On  the  other  hand,  if  he  has  acquiretl  some  general  facility 


32  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [November 

in  reading  larger  printed  forms  and  particularly  has  read  upon  a 
chart  the  same  story  that  he  undertakes  to  read  in  the  book,  the 
mental  difi&culties  of  coherent  reading  of  this  first  story  are  almost 
entirely  removed,  leaving  only  the  muscular  adjustments  of  hand 
and  eye  to  give  difficulty. 

3.  Continuous,  thrilling,  storied  material  encourages  page-afler- 
page  reading. — In  order  to  encourage  continuous  coherent  reading, 
the  content  of  the  first  book  lessons  must  be  of  a  connected,  con- 
tinuous character.  Hence,  in  the  best  recent  primers  we  find  real 
stories  at  the  very  begiiming,  each  of  which  may  extend  over 
several  pages.  Each  story  has  a  definite  plot  which  tends  to  carry 
the  little  reader  along  to  the  end.  Great  skill  has  been  exhibited 
by  a  number  of  writers  and  publishers  since  about  1910  in  composing 
and  publishing  such  material.  The  stories  are  usually  classics  of 
childhood,  such  as  "The  Three  Billy  Goats  Gruff,"  "Little  Red 
Riding  Hood,"  "Goldilocks,"  "The  Little  Red  Hen,"  and  "The 
Ginger  Bread  Boy,"  which  have  proved  fascinating  to  children  for 
generations.  It  is  an  interesting  historical  fact  that  while  such 
stories  had  been  contained  in  reading  books  for  the  later  grades 
for  many  years,  it  was  not  until  recently  that  they  were  introduced 
into  the  primers  for  the  first  lessons.  This  introduction  came  as 
the  result  of  the  acceptance  of  the  general  point  of  view  in  teaching 
reading  which  has  been  emphasized  in  these  articles,  namely, 
developing  attitudes  and  habits  of  securing  meaningful,  interesting 
experiences  from  the  very  beginning  of  reading. 

4.  Repetitional  phrases  of  certain  child  classics  especially  facilitate 
continuous,  easy  reading. — Since  the  classic  plots  of  children's 
stories  were  already  at  hand,  the  skill  of  the  primer  writers  consisted 
chiefly  in  phrasing  the  narrative  so  as  to  facilitate  easy  reading. 
Stories  constructed  on  the  general  plan  of  "The  House  that  Jack 
Built"  were  frequently  chosen  in  order  to  secure  repetition  of  words 
and  phrases.  Such  a  story  usually  has  some  unsolved  problem  that 
holds  interest  to  the  end  and  involves  one  of  the  characters  meeting 
the  others  in  turn  in  such  a  manner  as  to  call  for  frequent  repeti- 
tion of  the  whole  story  up  to  date.  Thus  there  is  a  gradual  addi- 
tion of  new  material  or  difficulties  with  frequent  repetition  of  older 
phrases.     This  gives  a  happy  balance  between  easy  repetition  and  a 


J(I2J]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  33 

few  new  words,  and  enables  the  children  early  to  read  with  consider- 
able fluency,  provided  the  teacher  is  skilled  in  introducing  the 
story  so  as  to  anticipate  the  vocabulary  difficulties. 

5.  Preparation  for  reading  the  story  includes  dramatic  telling,  new 
words  on  cards,  telling  from  pictures.— In  preparing  for  the  reading 
of  the  second  story,  Miss  Hardy  introduced  it  by  first  telling  it 
dramatically  herself  and  then  retelling  it  with  display  of  new  words 
upon  cards  at  appropriate  places.  These  words  were  then  restudied 
in  connection  with  parts  of  the  oral  story.  Finally,  after  the  books 
were  in  hand,  the  children,  before  reading  the  story,  told  it  as  they 
found  it  represented  in  the  pictures.  This  practice  attaches 
especial  importance  and  significance  to  the  pictures  in  the  making 
of  a  primer.  As  a  consequence,  high-grade  artists  are  employed 
to  draw  them.  The  results  are  pictures  full  of  story  and  action 
which  the  pupils  delight  in  beholding. 

6.  Rapidly  read  many  stories  in  many  books. — When  the  story 
is  finally  read,  it  is  completed  rapidly  and  the  next  story  soon 
begun.  This  eliminates  the  old-fashioned  practice  of  reading  the 
same  stories  in  a  single  primer  over  and  over.  Instead,  after  one 
primer  is  quickly  finished,  another  is  begun,  with  the  result  that 
from  ten  to  twenty  books,  including  first  readers,  may  be  completed 
in  one  year.  Since  nearly  all  these  books  possess  the  same  type 
of  stories  about  animals  and  common  things,  the  vocabulary 
demands  may  be  quite  small,  but  the  actual  practice  in  fundamental 
reading  habits  very  large.  In  order  to  make  these  fundamental 
reading  habits  the  chief  factor  in  the  reading  period,  most  of  the 
repetitional,  gameful  drill  with  word  cards  is  placed  in  a  separate 
period.  This  separate  drill  activity,  through  automatizing  the 
recognition  of  sight  words,  greatly  aids  the  activity  of  the  reading 
period.  By  being  separated,  however,  it  is  kept  from  detracting 
from  the  interpretative  reading  attitudes  and  the  mental  and 
muscular  practice  in  continuous  reading  which  predominate  in 
the  reading  period. 

7.  Muscular  adjustments  of  eyes  in  finding  and  following  the 
line  aided  by  marker. — The  muscular  practice  referred  to  consists 
largely  of  practice  in  moving  the  eyes  step  by  step  along  each  line 
and  then  swinging  them  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  next  line. 


34  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [November 

Little  children  have  special  difl&culties  in  making  such  fine  motor 
adjustments.  Even  an  adult  reader  has  difficulty  in  some  cases 
in  finding  with  his  eyes  the  beginning  of  the  next  hne,  for  example, 
in  case  he  is  reading  a  very  wide  page  containing  very  long  hnes. 
An  adult  may  even  have  difficulty  in  keeping  his  eyes  on  a  single 
line  in  cases  Uke  reading  a  wide  statistical  table.  In  such  cases  an 
adult  is  very  likely  to  use  a  ruler  or  a  piece  of  paper  to  mark  the 
line  and  guide  his  eyes.  The  same  device  was  used  by  Miss  Hardy's 
children  in  the  form  of  a  strip  of  manila  paper.  This  not  only  aids 
each  child's  eyes  in  finding  and  following  the  line,  but  also  aids 
the  teacher  in  holding  the  attention  of  all  the  pupils  upon  the 
same  line  as  she  says,  "Now  move  your  markers  to  the  third  line," 
etc.  It  thus  contributes  to  securing  the  continuous,  coherent, 
rapid  reading  which  we  have  emphasized. 

Summary  of  rules  for  begiiming  hook  reading. — The  discussion 
of  the  teaching  of  the  first  lessons  in  book  reading  may  be 
summarized  in  the  seven  following  rules : 

1.  Secure  continuous,  coherent,  rapid,  meaningful  reading. 

2.  Introduce  the  first  story  by  prehminary  reading  of  it  on  a 
chart  in  order  to  simplify  the  complexities  of  the  first  book  reading. 

3.  Use  continuous,  thrilling  storied  m.aterial  to  encourage  page- 
after-page  reading. 

4.  Choose  child  classics  with  repetitional  phrases  to  facilitate 
continuous,  easy  reading. 

5.  Prepare  for  fluent  reading  of  the  first  few  stories  by  telHng 
each  story  before  reading  it,  showing  new  words  on  cards,  and 
having  the  pupils  retell  the  story  from  the  pictures. 

6.  Read  rapidly  many  stories  in  many  books. 

7.  Have  each  pupil  use  a  line  marker  to  aid  the  eyes  and  to 
secure  attention  of  all  pupils  to  the  same  line. 

In  this  series  of  articles  we  have  emphasized  the  teaching  of 
reading  as  vitally  related  to  children's  experiences  in  the  first 
grade  with  games,  constructive  activities,  nursery  rhymes,  and 
thrilling  adventures  found  in  the  classic  stories  of  childhood.  All 
the  technique  employed  in  the  teaching  has  tended  to  establish 
in  the  pupils  the  fundamental  reading  attitude  and  habits  of  trying 
to  get  meaningful,  interesting  experiences  from  printed  material. 


1921]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  3S 

At  the  same  time,  the  child  has  been  acquiring  certain  mechanical 
habits  of  moving  his  eyes  and  a  vocabulary  of  sight  words  which 
he  can  use  as  tools  in  reading  many  stories  containing  his  familiar 
vocabulary.  It  is  highly  desirable,  however,  to  extend  the  pupil's 
skill  so  that  he  can  read  material  in  which  unfamiliar  printed 
forms  occur;  in  other  words,  to  make  him  an  independent  reader 
of  all  types  of  material  adapted  to  his  age.  For  this  reason,  after 
the  fundamental  correct  reading  attitudes  and  habits  had  been  well 
started,  we  found  Miss  Hardy  introducing  the  third  phase  of  first- 
grade  reading,  to  which  we  shall  now  turn  our  attention. 

IV.      INDEPE^fDENT  RECOGNITION   OF  NEW   WORDS 
PHONETIC   ANALYSIS 

A.      SAMPLE  LESSONS 

Third  phase  of  beginning  reading. — The  descriptions  of  the 
reading  in  Miss  Hardy's  room  carried  us  through  the  first  two 
principal  phases:  (i)  Incidental  reading  and  the  reading  of  rhymes 
and  stories  from  charts.  (2)  Beginning  to  read  in  the  primer.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  sixth  week,  the  third  phase  of  reading  was 
introduced,  namely,  phonetic  training  to  enable  the  children  to 
analyze  and  name  new  words  instead  of  having  to  be  taught  each 
word  ''by  sight."  We  shall  describe  Miss  Hardy's  introduction 
to  the  phonetic  sounds  and  to  the  phonetic  analysis  of  words  and 
then  take  up  a  scientific  study  of  the  necessity  and  value  of  such 
training. 

Some  children  early  interested  in  rhyming  words  and  in  similar 
beginnings. — Occasionally,  before  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  week, 
some  of  the  children  gave  evidence  of  their  natural  interest  in 
words  that  sound  alike  by  voluntary  remarks  about  words  that 
rhymed  in  the  jingles  they  were  studying,  such  as  "Jill"  and  "hill." 
Some  of  them  had  even  noticed  the  similar  beginnings  of  words  as 
Miss  Hardy  wrote  them  on  the  board.  For  example,  the  word 
"Save"  had  become  ver)'  familiar  as  a  note  to  the  janitor.  One 
day  when  the  teacher  wrote  "Sam,"  a  pupil  said  "You  begin  that 
word  just  like  'Save.'"  On  another  occasion  a  pupil  suggested 
that  "man"  and  "met"  looked  something  alike. 

First  phonetic  lesson.  Learning  the  sound  of  "m"  as  initial  sound 
of  four  familiar  words. —The  first  sound  which  the  children  learned 


36  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [November 

was  that  of  the  consonant  m.  It  was  taught  during  a  portion  of 
a  word-study  period.  For  the  lesson  Miss  Hardy  selected  four 
words  beginning  with  m,  which  the  children  had  used  in  their 
reading  and  which  they  knew  well  by  sight,  namely,  met,  man, 
make,  and  made.  After  some  preHminaries,  the  major  steps  in  the 
teaching  were  the  following: 

1.  Miss  Hardy  asked  the  children  to  Hsten  carefully  as  she 
pronounced  the  four  words  and  then  to  tell  her  what  part  sounded 
the  same.     They  readily  said,  "The  first  part." 

2.  She  then  said,  "Watch  my  lips  as  I  say  each  word  so  that 
you  can  hear  that  first  sound." 

3.  Then  she  brought  out  a  small  chart  on  which  the  words 
were  printed.  These  were  pronounced  and  the  first  sound  con- 
nected with  the  sight  of  the  first  letter. 

4.  She  wrote  the  words  on  the  blackboard  and  the  children 
noted  how  they  all  began  the  same. 

5.  The  children  were  then  asked  to  think  of  other  words  which 
began  with  the  same  sound.  One  said,  "Money."  Another  said, 
"Margery."  One  child  who  was  not  getting  the  point  said, 
"Little." 

6.  The  teacher  said,  "I  am  thinking  of  something  the  cow 
gives  which  begins  with  this  sound."  The  children  said,  "Milk." 
Again,  "I  am  thinking  of  a  kind  of  pie  we  have  at  Thanksgiving." 
"Mince,"  they  said.  Similar  questions  with  easy  obvious  answers 
were  given  until  most  of  the  children  had  the  sound  well  in  mind 
and  connected  with  the  beginnings  of  certain  familiar  words. 

Second  phonetic  lesson.  Learning  the  sound  of  "s."  Details  of 
technique. — Two  days  later  during  a  word-study  period  the  second 
sound  was  taught,  namely,  that  of  the  consonant  s.  About  seven 
minutes  were  consumed  in  the  following  activities: 

1.  "The  other  day  we  discovered  many  words  that  begin  with 
the  same  sound,"  said  Miss  Hardy.  The  children  immediately 
began  to  hum  the  sound  of  m  and  volunteered,  "met,  man,"  etc., 
as  she  held  up  the  old  chart. 

2.  "This  morning  we  are  going  to  have  some  more  words  which 
you  know  and  see  with  what  sound  they  begin.  Look  at  my  lips 
and  listen,"  she  said,  as  she  pronounced,  seed,  so,  said,  some — all 


I 


1Q2I]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  RE.\DING  37 

familiar  words  from  the  reading  lessons.  The  children  immediately 
volunteered  the  hissing  s  sound.  One  child  said,  "That's  the 
snake's  sound."  "How  do  you  know?"  asked  Miss  Hardy. 
"My  mother  told  me." 

3.  A  chart  with  the  words  printed  on  it  was  then  studied,  the 
teacher  pointing  at  the  beginning  of  each  word  as  it  was 
pronounced. 

4.  In  response  to  the  teacher's  request,  "I  want  you  to  tell  me 
a  word  that  begins  with  this  sound,"  the  children  gave  "sore" 
and  "say."  The  teacher  added  "Sunday"  and  said,  "I  am  think- 
ing of  a  boy's  name  that  begins  with  this  sound."  "John," 
said  one  child.  "No,  Sam  is  the  word."  "That's  my  uncle's 
name,"  volunteered  one  of  the  youngsters  who  were  nearly  all 
ready  now  with  additional  words  such  as  "saw"  and  "salmon." 

5.  "Are  you  ready  to  see  me  write  one  of  these  words?" 
queried  Miss  Hardy.  "I  am  going  to  write  this  first  word," 
pointing  at  "seed."  ....  "What  does  it  say?"  and  so  on  till 
all  were  written. 

6.  "Now  watch  me  as  I  erase  one  of  the  words;  then  tell  me 
which  one  it  was."  The  game  element  in  this  activity  held  the 
children's  rapt  attention.     Finally  all  words  were  erased. 

7.  The  children  were  then  taught  to  write  the  word  "seed" 
at  the  blackboard. 

8.  Before  dismissing  the  children  the  phonetic  work  of  the  period 
was  then  briefly  recalled  by  Miss  Hardy,  with  such  remarks  as 
"What  sound  does  seed  begin  with?  ....  What  was  another 

word  on  that  card  ?  .  .  .  .  Let's  say  them  all  through  again 

How  many  think  you  will  know  that  sound  when  you  see  a  word 
in  your  books  that  begins  with  it  ?" 

Puzzled  about  leaching  word  families.  Need  experiments  on  how 
children  learn  phonetic  analysis. — With  similar  detailed  devices, 
Miss  Hardy  proceeded  to  teach  the  sounds  of  other  con.sonants. 
She  then  reached  a  stage  that  puzzles  first-grade  teachers  of 
phonetics,  namely,  teaching  the  sounds  and  combinations  of  the 
vowels.  The  puzzling  issue  is  whether  (i)  to  attach  the  vowel 
to  the  final  consonant  of  a  short  word,  for  e.xample,  "cat," 
thus  giving  the  "at"  family,  or  (2)  to  attach  the  vowel  to  the 


38  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [November 

initial  consonant,  thus,  "ca  t",  which  is  urged  by  some  experts  in 
phonetics  who  object  to  the  "family"  idea.  Much  argument  has 
been  printed  concerning  this  issue,  but  I  know  of  no  precise  experi- 
mental study  of  how  children  learn  to  pronounce  which  will  give 
us  a  valid,  scientific  answer.  There  is  much  discussion  in  terms  of 
the  phonetic  structure  of  words,  but  few  experiments  on  how 
children  learn.  For  this  reason.  Miss  Hardy  stated  that  she  did 
not  feel  as  confident  of  her  technique  at  this  stage  as  in  some  of  the 
other  stages.  However,  the  following  account  gives  a  general 
idea  of  part  of  her  procedure. 

Vowel  sounds  derived  by  cutting  consonants  from  short  words. — 
The  following  table  of  words  illustrates  the  material  used  in  the 
derivation  of  the  short  vowel  sounds. 

cat        met        bit       not       cut 

bat        get         fit        got       but 

rat        let  hit       hot       nut 

When  the  teacher  wrote  the  first  column  of  this  material,  the 
children  easily  recognized  the  words  or  quickly  learned  them. 
Having  already  learned  the  consonant  sounds,  they  easily  gave 
each  when  the  teacher  covered  up  the  other  parts  of  the  word. 

When  she  erased  the  final  /  and  asked  what  was  left,  the  children 
said,  "ca,  ba,  ra."  Then,  when  she  erased  the  initial  consonants 
of  these  syllables  and  asked  what  was  left,  the  pupils  gave  the 
short  sound  of  a.  Similar  procedure  with  the  other  columns,  plus 
many  additional  short  words,  enabled  the  children  themselves  to 
discover  the  short  sounds  of  the  vowels  and  to  gain  skill  in  pronoun- 
cing new  short  words  containing  them.  They  were  told  that  these 
vowel  sounds  were  called  short. 

Long  sounds  learned;  then  rule  determining  long  or  short. — 
Later,  the  children  were  told  that  sometimes  the  vowels  are  not 
called  short,  but  are  called  the  opposite;  whereupon  they  them- 
selves supplied  the  word  "long."  From  a  study  of  words  which 
they  already  knew,  such  as  "late"  and  "rode,"  they  became 
familiar  with  the  long  sounds  and  learned  that  generally  when  a 
short  word  ends  in  e  the  latter  is  silent  and  the  other  vowel  is  long. 

Many  devices  for  concreteness,  activity,  interest,  and  drill. — 
The  reader  will  readily  understand  that  this  later  teaching  was  not 


1921]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BFGL\XING  READING  39 

carried  on  in  the  rapid,  abstract  manner  that  this  brief  description 
of  it  may  suggest,  but  extended  over  many  days  and  at  all  stages 
was  characterized  by  the  concrete  beginnings,  the  varied  delightful 
activities  of  the  pupils,  and  the  gameful,  repetitional  drill  devices 
which  we  found  ever  present  in  the  earlier  descriptions  of  Miss 
Hardy's  lessons.  Owing  to  the  great  length  of  these  articles  we 
must  refrain  from  giving  further  details  concerning  the  phonetic 
instruction  and  present  briefly  the  general  principles  of  training 
in  the  independent  recognition  of  new  words  which  Miss  Hardy's 
lessons  indicate. 

B.      PRINCIPLES 

1.  Without  phonetic  training  pupils  become  inaccurate,  dependent 
readers. — Complete  proof  of  the  necessity  and  value  of  phonetic  train- 
ing in  the  recognition  of  new  words  must  be  postponed  until  the  ne.xt 
article  which  will  present  the  results  of  scientific  studies  of  reading. 
We  may  anticipate,  however,  by  stating  that  pupils  who  have  not 
had  training  in  independent  word  analysis  prove  to  be,  on  the 
average,  much  more  inaccurate  in  their  reading  than  pupils  who 
have  had  this  training.  Even  from  common  observation  one  can 
readily  appreciate  the  desirability  of  training  pupils  so  that  they 
can  rapidly  and  accurately  decipher  the  new  words  which  they  meet 
in  their  ever\'day  reading  in  and  out  of  school,  instead  of  merely 
recognizing  the  words  which  they  have  already  learned  by  sight. 

2.  Teach  in  a  separate  period. — In  order  to  protect  the  sight- 
reading  period  from  interfering  attitudes,  the  phonetic  instruction 
and  drill  are  best  given  in  a  separate  period.  Such  skill  as  is 
acquired  in  these  separate  periods  will  be  used,  howev'er,  where 
needed  in  the  regular  reading  period.  This  will  be  illustrated  later 
in  an  account  of  a  second-grade  lesson. 

3.  Derive  the  sounds  by  analyzing  familiar  words. ^In  Miss 
Hardy's  lessons  it  was  shown  how  the  word  drill  upon  certain 
words  from  the  reading  lessons  was  naturally  and  easily  directed 
into  a  study  of  the  initial  sounds  of  the  words.  Some  of  the  children 
had  already  of  their  own  accord  shown  an  interest  in  these  sounds. 
The  study  of  the  latter  represents  the  final  step  in  the  analytical 
learning,  from  whole  to  parts,  already  described.     Such  learning 


40  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  {November 

proceeds  from  the  whole  story  to  individual  lines  and  phrases,  then 
to  drill  on  individual  words,  and  finally  to  the  sounds  composing 
the  words. 

4.  Teach  the  easy  sounds  early. — This  rule  is  illustrated  by  the 
consonants  5  and  b.  The  hissing  sound  of  the  5  is  easily  separated 
from  the  words  and  pronounced  by  children,  but  the  sound  of  b 
is  more  difficult  even  for  an  adult  to  learn  to  make.  The  ordinary 
result  when  an  adult  tries  to  pronounce  b  is  really  the  sound  of  the 
phonogram  bu. 

5.  Teach  the  most  useful  sounds  early. — This  rule  is  illustrated 
by  the  short  and  long  sounds  of  the  vowels.  One  authority 
estimates  that  in  the  Jones  spelUng  Ust  61  per  cent  of  the  phonetic 
syllables  have  short  vowels,  and  10  per  cent  of  the  phonetic  syllables 
have  the  vowels  made  long  by  final  e.  These  frequencies  justify 
us  in  early  teaching  the  short  sounds  of  the  vowels,  and  quickly 
following  with  words  in  which  the  vowels  are  made  long  by  final  e. 

6.  Teach  habits  of  analyzing  words  that  will  help  in  all  later 
reading. — In  general,  this  rule  means  that  pupils  will  be  given 
much  practice  in  straightforward  attack  upon  unfamiliar  or  new 
words.  One  of  the  facts  which  will  come  out  in  the  next  article 
on  the  scientific  investigations  of  reading  is  the  existence  of  very 
halting,  confused  methods  of  attacking  new  words  that  characterize 
many  poor  readers.  Only  sufficient  practice  in  using  methods  of 
phonetic  analysis  will  give  mastery  of  them  and  lead  to  a  confident 
straightforward  attack. 

7.  Use  a  ready-made  scientific  system  of  leaching  phonetics. — 
The  few  comments  which  we  have  made  suggest  that  the  effective 
mastery  of  phonetic  tools  and  analysis  cannot  be  left  to  the 
haphazard  effort  of  inexperienced  unskilled  teachers.  Just  as  in 
the  teaching  of  handwriting  and  spelling,  we  need  ready-made, 
scientifically  constructed  systems.  In  phonetic  teaching  these 
systems  will  be  derived  from  a  study  of  (i)  the  phonetics  of  the 
common  English  words  and  (2)  the  methods  and  devices  by  which 
children  most  readily  acquire  skill  in  phonetic  analysis.  There  is 
available  at  least  one  system  in  which  the  first  factor,  namely,  the 
phonetics  of  the  language,  has  been  given  careful  consideration. 
It  also  has  applied  such  knowledge  of  how  children  learn  phonetic 


1921]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  41 

analysis  as  is  available.  However,  many  more  detailed  investiga- 
tions are  needed  of  children's  experiences  in  learning  particular 
sounds,  phonetic  combinations,  and  syllabification  before  ready- 
made  systems  for  teaching  phonetic  analysis  can  be  perfected. 

Conclusion  of  first-grade  reading.  Correct  reading  habits  plus 
skill  in  word  analysis. — This  will  conclude  the  discussion  of  first- 
grade  reading  as  derived  from  the  actual  lessons  observed  in  Miss 
Hardy's  room.  These  lessons  and  the  interpretative  discussion 
have  given  a  notion  of  modern  progressive  methods  of  teaching 
reading  to  pupils  in  the  first  grade.  The  initial  emphasis  is  placed 
on  forming  the  correct  reading  attitude  of  trjing  to  get  meaningful 
interesting  experiences  from  printed  material.  For  this  purpose 
action  words,  nursery  rhj-mes,  and  continuous  storied  material  were 
used  to  enable  children  early  to  take  a  delight  in  fluent  reading. 
After  the  fundamental  reading  attitudes  and  habits  had  been 
correctly  started,  systematic  training  for  the  independent  phonetic 
analysis  of  new  words  was  started  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth 
week.  Throughout  the  first  year  both  of  these  tjpes  of  practice 
are  emphasized,  namely,  (i)  easy,  fluent,  delightful  reading  and 
(2)  practice  in  phonetic  analysis.  In  order  to  give  the  reader  an 
idea  of  the  results  of  such  teaching,  as  well  as  the  modifications  that 
occur  in  the  technique  as  the  children  gain  more  skill,  a  reading 
lesson  observed  in  the  autumn  in  a  second-grade  room,  will  be 
described  briefly. 

V.      A  SECOND-GRADE  LESSON   ILLUSTRATING  ACHEEVEUENTS  AND 
TECHNIQUE 

Preparation.  Discussion  of  monkeys  and  crocodiles. — The  second- 
grade  children  assembled  in  their  little  chairs  in  the  front  of  the 
room  just  as  the  first-graders  had  done.  Miss  Laura  Lucas,  their 
teacher,  spent  about  two  minutes  in  a  preparatory  discussion  before 
turning  to  the  story  which  they  were  to  read.  Among  her  ques- 
tions and  remarks,  which  were  interspersed  with  answers  from  the 
children,  were  the  following:  "How  many  of  you,  when  you  went 
to  the  zoo.  saw  the  crocodiles?"  "How  do  they  move,  quickly  or 
slowly?"  "Do  they  climb  trees  like  monkeys?"  (Some  of  the 
children  said  they  do.)     "What  kind  of  country  do  they  live  in. 


42  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [November 

cold  or  hot?"  Where  do  monkeys  live;  in  what  kind  of 
country  ?"  "If  a  crocodile  wanted  to  catch  a  monkey,  how  would 
he  do  it?"  "I  thought  this  morning  you  would  like  to  read  a 
story  about  how  a  crocodile  tried  to  catch  a  monkey."  "The 
animals  we  are  going  to  read  about  lived  in  a  country  called  'India, "' 
said  the  teacher  as  she  wrote  the  word  "India"  on  the  board. 
She  then  wrote  "Mr.  Crocodile"  and  "Mr.  Monkey,"  saying, 
"They  called  each  other  by  these  names." 

Silent  reading.  Books  presented  to  pupils. — "When  I  give  you 
your  books,  turn  to  page  85,  read  silently,  and  tell  me  if  there  are 
any  words  you  do  not  know." 

Much  whispered  vocalization  indicated  stage  of  development. — 
The  children  followed  these  directions  and  read  the  story  silently 
with  perfect  attention.  There  was  much  whispered  vocalization, 
showing  that  most  of  the  children  were  not  reading  to  themselves 
any  faster  than  they  could  pronounce  the  words. 

Assistance  in  phonetic  analysis  of  new  words  given  individually. — 
Those  children  who  needed  assistance  advanced  individually  to  the 
teacher  who  was  now  seated  in  a  low  chair.  As  each  child  pointed 
out  the  words  he  did  not  know.  Miss  Lucas  gave  him  help  in  such  a 
low  tone  that  the  others  were  not  distracted.  As  a  rule  she  did 
not  teU  a  child  outright,  but  helped  him  use  his  phonetic  ability. 
For  example,  she  said,  "You  have  two  vowels  here.  Clarence; 
which  one  do  you  pronounce?" 

Lack  of  phonetic  training  necessitated  much  help  for  one  child. — 
Some  of  the  children  did  not  need  any  assistance.  Most  of  them 
asked  only  once.  One  girl,  however,  requested  help  five  times. 
After  the  lesson  Miss  Lucas  told  me  that  this  child  entered  from 
another  school  where  she  had  not  had  phonetic  training;  conse- 
quently, she  could  not  decipher  the  new  words.  She  was  being 
given  special  training  to  correct  her  deficiency. 

Difficult  words  written  on  board  in  order  of  occurrence. — As  the 
children  asked  for  help  on  particular  words,  Miss  Lucas  made  a 
memorandum  of  each  on  a  card  and  then  wrote  them  on  the  board 
in  the  order  in  which  they  occurred  in  the  story,  together  with  other 
words  or  phrases  to  which  she  desired  to  call  their  attention.     The 


iS>3l]  HOW  TO  TE.\CH  BEGINNING  READING  43 

list  is  as  follows:  greedy,  catch,  bank,  fond  of  fruit,  swam  along, 
surface,  started,  stupid,  angry,  narrow,  moved,  crawled,  hello, 
afraid.  Those  who  had  finished  the  silent  reading  were  told  to 
study  the  words  on  the  board. 

Pupils  related  the  story.  Showed  successful  silent  reading. — 
After  all  the  pupils  had  finished  reading  the  story  silently,  Miss 
Lucas  said,  "Put  your  fmger  in  the  place  and  close  your  books. 
Will  someone  tell  us  just  how  it  happened  that  the  crocodile  wanted 
to  catch  the  monkey  ?"     A  pupil  gave  his  answer. 

"What  was  his  first  plan  to  catch  the  monkey?"  A  boy 
described  the  plan. 

"Tell  us  about  the  second  plan,  Damon." 

The  pupils  talked  ver>'  freely  and  related  the  story  so  clearly 
that  it  was  obvious  they  had  thoroughly  grasped  it  in  their  silent 
reading. 

Difficult  words  on  board.  Explained  if  pupils  requested.— Miss 
Lucas  then  said,  "Here  are  some  of  the  words  you  asked  for.  If 
there  is  any  word  here  that  any  child  doesn't  know,  hold  up  your 
hand."  She  then  explained  certain  of  the  words  as  the  pupils 
requested. 

Pupils  pronounce  and  weave  new  words  into  oral  5/ory.— Miss 
Lucas  then  reviewed  all  the  words  by  telling  the  story  briefly  and 
pointing  at  each  word  as  it  worked  into  the  story.  Instead  of 
pronouncing  it  herself,  however,  she  had  the  pupils  say  it  in  unison. 
For  e.xample,  the  last  word  "afraid"  was  inserted  by  the  children 
as  she  said,  "Then  the  monkey  was  so  ...  .  that  he  didn't  go 
near  the  place  any  more." 

Oral  reading.  Rapid,  connected,  fluent  audience  reading  aided 
by  teacher's  suggestions. — Since  there  were  several  visitors  present, 
Miss  Lucas  then  had  the  children  read  the  story  orally  in  a  rapid 
continuous  manner.  She  gave  occasional  suggestions  such  as  the 
following: 

"I'll  ask   Esther  to  start  reading "  "Remember,  now 

you  are  speaking  to  him,  Esther."  "  What  did  he  answer,  Frank  ?  " 
"Then,  how  did  the  crocodile  tind  the  monkey?"  "What  did 
the^crocodile  say,  Robert?"     "Not  quite  so  fast,   Emerson,  so 


44  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL 

we  can  hear  every  word."  "Now,  Constance,  these  people  are 
talking  back  and  forth.  Read  just  like  you  were  talking,  just 
like  you  would  say  it  if  you  were  the  monkey." 

Plan  to  represent  characters  of  story  and  improve  reading. — At 
the  end  of  the  reading  there  was  a  discussion  arising  out  of  the 
teacher's  suggestion  that  next  time  they  read  the  storj-  again  with 
different  children  taking  the  parts  of  the  characters  in  the  story. 
Miss  Lucas  asked,  "How  might  we  make  our  reading  better?" 
The  pupils  gave  various  answers  such  as  "  Get  our  words  together, " 
"Read  like  people  talk,"  and  "Know  the  place." 

New  problem  of  rate  of  oral  and  silent  reading. — It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  enter  into  a  detailed  statement  of  the  principles  of 
teaching  reading  illustrated  by  this  second-grade  lesson.  There  is 
the  same  careful  balance  of  (i)  rapid  grasp  of  meanings  and  (2) 
skill  in  independent  analysis  of  new  words  which  prevailed  in  the 
later  weeks  of  the  first-grade  reading.  The  pupils  are  now  real 
readers;  they  can  take  up  a  story  adapted  to  their  stage  of  develop- 
ment and  get  from  its  silent  perusal  the  meanings  and  delight  which 
it  is  intended  to  convey.  There  are,  however,  certain  facts  which 
need  further  discussion  and  interpretation.  For  e.xample,  though 
the  children  were  reading  silently  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term, 
most  of  them  were  vocalizing  quite  audiblj',  showing  that  they  were 
not  reading  any  faster  than  they  could  pronounce  the  words.  The 
boy,  Emerson,  however,  could  recognize  words  and  read  so  rapidly 
silently  that  when  he  came  to  read  orally  he  enunciated  so  fast 
that  the  audience  could  not  understand  him  easily.  He  had  become 
such  a  skilled,  rapid,  silent  reader,  Miss  Lucas  said,  that  she  pro- 
vided liim  with  much  supplementary  reading  to  fill  his   time. 

Such  instances  raise  important  questions  concerning  the  rates 
of  oral  and  silent  reading  and  the  relations  between  oral  and  silent 
reading.  These  questions  have  been  subjected  to  careful  e.xperi- 
mental  study  from  which  important  conclusions  have  been  derived 
concerning  methods  of  teaching  reading.  In  the  next  article  these 
scientific  studies  will  be  discussed. 


ARTICLE  IV 

VI.      SCIENTIFIC   INVESTIGATIONS   OF   READING 

Divisions  o J  this  section. — The  following  features  of  the  scientific 
investigations  of  reading  will  be  considered  briefly  in  this  section 
in  order  to  give  some  of  the  scientific  background  for  the  practical 
discussions  found  in  the  earlier  articles,  (i)  Laboratory-  studies 
of  word-recognition  and  of  eye-movements.  (2)  Tests  and  scales 
for  measuring  oral  and  silent  reading.  (3)  Conclusions  from 
scientific  investigations.  These  conclusions  concern  the  relation 
of  oral  and  silent  reading,  the  value  of  phonetic  instruction,  the 
needs  of  pupils  who  read  poorly,  and  the  nature  of  reading  as 
active,  selective  thinking. 

LABORATORY  STUDIES  OF  WORD-RECOGNmON  AND   OF   EYE-MOVEMENTS 

Experiments  on  flash  recognition. — In  the  earlier  accounts  of 
first-grade  lessons,  we  described  methods  of  teaching  children  to 
recognize  whole  words  at  a  glance,  with  no  previous  training  in  the 
alphabet  or  in  spelhng  or  phonetics.  This  practice  is  quite  con- 
trary to  the  old-fashioned  idea  that  children  had  to  know  the 
letters  before  they  could  learn  words.  The  obvious  success  of  the 
children  is  sufficient  proof  of  the  possibility  of  whole-word  recogni- 
tion; but  certain  psychological  experiments  help  to  confirm  our 
belief  in  the  importance  of  such  practice.  Some  of  the  earliest 
experiments  upon  such  flash  recognition  of  words  were  conducted 
by  exposing  letters  and  words  to  view  for  a  measured  fraction  of  a 
second.  It  was  found  that  a  long  familiar  word  could  be  recog- 
nized at  a  glance;  but  if  disordered  letters  were  displayed,  it  took 
much  longer  to  make  them  out. 

45 


46 


THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL 


[December 


Span  of  recognition  of  poor  and  good  readers. — Similar  experi- 
ments were  used  later  in  diagnosing  the  differences  between  chil- 
dren in  reading  ability.  Thus,  at  the  University  of  Chicago  in  1916, 
special  studies  were  made  of  the  "span  of  recognition"  of  poor 
readers  and  good  readers.  It  was  found  that  when  six  words  were 
exposed  for  about  one-fifth  of  a  second,  a  good  reader  recognized 
on  the  average  more  than  fwe  of  the  words,  while  a  poor  reader 
recognized  less  than  two  words.     These  experiments  explain  the 


'  Then  was  anoth(  r  bird  ii  i  the  r 


S      Zi 


1,  however, 


l(,  17 


Z    I 


wl  o  '.  :new  wl  at  grassho  jpers  we  'e  good  f(  r.     H< 


7 


was  a  I  orchard  oriole; 


ind,  after  looking  (  a  awl  ile. 


Zo 


/3 


/O       JO 


Fig.  I. — Silent  reading  by  a  rapid  reader  in  the  fourth  grade.  Each  vertical 
line  indicates  one  pause.  The  top  number  indicates  the  number  of  the  pause  and 
and  the  bottom  number  its  duration  in  fiftieths  of  a  second.  X  indicates  that  it 
was  impossible  to  determine  with  precision  the  length  of  the  pause. 

value  of  flash  drills  in  the  rapid  recognition  of  words  on  cards  as  a 
means  of  speeding  up  pupils'  recognition  of  famihar  words.  E.xperi- 
ments  in  the  University  of  Chicago  laboratory  showed  that  such 
practice  was  helpful  as  high  as  the  fourth  grade. 

Experiments  in  photographing  eye-movements.  Huey's  notable 
book. — In  the  descriptions  of  the  first  lessons  in  book  reading  it 
was  noted  that  the  children  used  a  manila  paper  Une-marker  to 


IQSl] 


HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING 


47 


guide  their  eyes  along  the  line.  This  practice  illustrates  the 
recognition  by  psychologists  that  eye-movements  are  a  fundamental 
factor  in  reading.  The  early  efforts  to  study  these  movements 
began  with  simple  observations  of  the  eyes  of  a  person  while  read- 
ing. If  you  will  make  such  observations,  you  will  see  that  the 
eyes  proceed  by  jerks  and  pauses  as  they  read  a  hne,  and  then 
make  a  long  sweep  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  next  line.  One 
of  the  pioneer  investigators  of  these  movements  was  E.  B.  Huey, 


3    y  S 


The  re  was  an<  th  ;r  bin  I  in  tl  i  ■  roo 


^9        /3   IS 
/ 


7        /o 


ho'  evi  r. 
/3   // 


3    ¥       sr  (,       J 


w  \  hat  g  nsshopi  ers  \  ere  gcxxl  f  r.     He 


r 


iz   IS        *  X      10 


'9 


Id 


I      R 


¥      S       C         7 


orchai  J  oriole;  aj  d,a  lorlc  iking  <   i  nul 


/r  /o      //         /<    9    m 


Fig.  2. — Silent  reading  by  a  poor  reader  in  the  fifth  grade.    X  iodicates  thai  it 
was  impossible  to  determine  with  precision  the  length  of  the  pause. 

who  published  in  1908  a  book  entitled  The  Psychology  and  Peda- 
gogy of  Reading  (Macmillan  Co.).  This  book  was  widely  read  by 
persons  interested  in  the  teaching  of  reading  and  is  still  one  of  the 
best  sources  of  information  about  the  histor>',  psycholog>',  and 
teaching  of  reading. 

Judd's   elaborate   studies.— The   most    elalwratc    photographic 
studies  of  eye-movements  have  been  made  during  recent  years 


48  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [December 

at  the  University  of  Chicago,  under  the  direction  of  Professor 
C.  H.  Judd.  The  special  apparatus  used  cost  approximately 
$6,000,  funds  for  the  purchase  of  which  were  furnished  by  the 
General  Education  Board.  One  professor  of  education,  on  leave 
of  absence  from  another  institution,  spent  a  whole  year  designing 
improved  apparatus  and  making  photographic  records  of  the  eye- 
movements  of  many  adults  and  children.  Several  graduate 
students  also  conducted  elaborate  experiments.  An  account  of 
the  results  of  these  experiments,  together  with  much  other  material, 
was  given  by  Judd  in  a  monograph  entitled  Reading:  Its  Nature 
and  Development,  published  in  1918.  During  1921  Professor  Judd 
was  granted  $15,000  by  the  Commonwealth  Fund  to  carry  further 
these  experimental  investigations. 

Poor  reader  may  pause  twice  as  often  as  good  reader. — In  these 
experimental  studies  of  eye-movements,  the  most  striking  contrasts 
appear  between  good  and  poor  readers  in  (i)  the  number  of  pauses 
which  they  make  in  reading  a  line,  and  (2)  the  amount  of  confused 
eye-movement  that  occurs.  We  cannot  here  consider  these 
characteristics  in  detail,  but  we  may  note  the  difference  between 
a  good  reader  and  a  poor  one  in  the  number  of  pauses,  as  illustrated 
in  Figures  i  and  2.'  Each  vertical  line  indicates  a  pause.  It  will 
be  noted  that  the  good  fourth-grade  reader  paused  only  six 
times  in  reading  the  first  line,  while  the  poor  fifth-grade  reader 
paused  thirteen  times.  Later  in  the  article,  we  shall  have  occasion 
again  to  refer  to  the  results  of  such  experimental  studies  of  eye- 
movements. 

TESTS  AND   SCALES  FOR  MEASURING  ORAL  AND   SILENT   READING 

Measuring  reading  is  a  complex  matter. — Another  type  of 
investigation  of  reading  has  been  the  construction  of  scales  for 
measuring  the  rate  and  quality  of  reading.  In  the  case  of  hand- 
writing or  spelling,  the  construction  of  scales  is  comparatively 
easy,  owing  to  the  simplicity  of  the  subject-matter.  In  the  case 
of  reading,  the  opposite  is  true.  The  complete  measurement  of 
skill  in  reading  is  very  difficult  on  account  of  the  complexity  of 

"Reproductions  of  Plates  XXVII  and  XXX  in  Reading:  lis  Nature  and  Devel- 
opment by  Charles  Hubbard  Judd,  pp.  63  and  67. 


igsi]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  49 

the  subject-matter  and  of  the  interpretative  reactions  of  the  pupils. 
However,  great  progress  has  been  made  in  devising  scales  for 
measuring  reading  ability,  and  we  shall  note  briefly  a  few  of  those 
which  have  been  published. 

Oral  reading  Icsls  and  scales.  Gray's  standardized  paragraphs. — 
One  of  the  most  widely  used  scales  for  measuring  ability  in  oral 
reading  is  that  devised  by  Professor  W.  S.  Gray  of  the  University 
of  Chicago.  In  testing  ability  in  oral  reading,  the  pupil  is  required 
to  read  certain  standard  paragraphs  out  loud  to  an  observer  who 
makes  a  written  memorandum  of  the  following  factors  in  the  read- 
ing: (i)  The  amount  of  time  consumed;  (2)  the  number  of  errors 
made:  {a)  gross  mispronunciations,  {b)  minor  mispronunciations, 
(c)  omission  of  words,  (d)  insertion  of  words,  (c)  repetition  of 
words  or  groups  of  words,  and  (/)  substitution  of  one  word  or  group 
of  words  for  another. 

Sample  paragraphs  illustrating  increasing  difficulty. — The  ma- 
terial which  the  pupils  read  in  this  test  consists  of  a  series  of 
short  paragraphs  which  gradually  increase  in  difficulty.  The 
second,  sixth,  and  eighth  paragraphs  are  here  reproduced. 

2 

Once  there  was  a  little  pig. 

He  lived  with  his  mother  in  a  pen. 

One  day  he  saw  his  four  feet. 

"Mother,"  he  said,  "what  can  1  do 
with  my  feet  V 

His  mother  said,  "Vou  can  run  with 
them." 

So  the  little  pig  ran  round  and  round 
the  pen. 

6 

The  jmrt  of  farming  enjoyed  most  by  a  \wy 
is  the  nmkiiit,'  ot  niaplc  suuur.  It  is  l)fttcr  than 
blackberryinu    and    almost    as    good    as    tisiiinj;. 


50  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [December 

One  reason  why  a  boy  likes  this  work  is  that 
someone  else  does  most  of  it.  It  is  a  sort  of  work 
in  which  he  can  appear  to  be  very  industrious  and 
yet  do  but  little. 

8 
The  crown  and  glory  of  a  useful  life  is  char- 
acter. It  is  the  noblest  possession  of  man.  It 
forms  a  rank  in  itself,  an  estate  in  the  general 
good  will,  dignifying  every  station  and  exalting 
every  position  in  society.  It  exercises  a  greater 
power  than  wealth,  and  is  a  valuable  means  of 
securing  honor. 

One  may  easily  note  the  progressive  growth  in  difficulty.  The 
twelfth  and  iinal  paragraph,  which  is  sufficiently  difficult  to  test 
even  high-school  pupils,  reads  in  part  as  follows: 

The  hypotheses  concerning  physical  phenomena  formulated  by  the  early 
philosophers  proved  to  be  inconsistent  and  in  general  not  universally  applicable. 

Humorous  illustration  of  a  pupil's  experience  with  the  test. — 
The  pupil  who  is  being  tested  reads  successive  paragraphs  until 
he  makes  seven  errors  in  each  of  two  paragraphs.  The  increasing 
difficulty  for  the  pupil  is  illustrated  by  the  case  of  a  boy  who  had 
been  subjected  to  a  number  of  medical  examinations  shortly  before 
he  encountered  the  oral-reading  test.  As  he  progressed  through 
the  paragraphs,  and  these  became  harder  and  harder,  he  stuttered 
and  stammered,  backed  up,  hesitated,  and  finally  said  to  Mr.  Gray: 
"I  don't  know  what  you're  looking  for.  Mister;  but  whatever  it 
is,  I've  sure  got  it." 

Standard  scores  derived  from  wide  use  of  the  test. — While  devising 
and  standardizing  these  tests  (about  1915),  Gray  tried  them  out 
extensively  and  carefully  in  thirteen  cities  in  Illinois.  Later  they 
were  used  in  surveys  of  reading  in  Cleveland,  Grand  Rapids, 
St.  Louis,  and  Indianapolis.  From  the  results  of  thus  testing 
thousands  of  children  in  the  oral  reading  of  the  same  paragraphs, 
there  has  been  derived  a  series  of  standard  scores  or  achievements 


iprj]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  51 

which  we  can  use  in  evaluating  the  success  of  the  teaching  of  oral 
reading  in  any  room,  school,  or  system  of  schools.  At  the  same 
Ume,  we  can  use  the  tests  and  scores  in  diagnosing  the  needs  of 
particular  pupils  and  determining  necessary  changes  in  methods  of 
teaching  reading.  We  shall  refer  to  some  of  the  results  of  such 
studies  of  methods  of  teacliing  after  noting  examples  of  tests  for 
measuring  silent  reading. 

Silent-reading  tests  and  scales.  Courtis  tests. — One  of  the  best 
known  and  most  convenient  silent-reading  tests  is  that  of  S.  A. 
Courtis,  of  Detroit.  This  test  is  given  to  a  class  as  a  whole,  which 
renders  it  more  easy  to  administer  than  an  oral-reading  test  which 
must  necessarily  be  given  individually.  In  the  Courtis  test,  each 
child  is  given  a  little  pamphlet  containing  a  story  and  directions 
for  reading  it.  In  the  first  part  of  the  test,  upon  a  signal  from  the 
examiner,  the  pupils  begin  to  read.  At  the  end  of  each  half  minute, 
the  examiner  says,  "Mark,"  whereupon  each  pupil  draws  a  circle 
around  the  last  word  and  goes  on  reading.  From  such  records 
the  rates  of  silent  reading  can  be  calculated. 

Quality  of  pupil's  studious  comprehension  tested  by  questions. — 
The  second  part  of  the  Courtis  test  measures  the  quality  of  the 
pupil's  silent  reading  by  having  him  write  the  answers  to  a  number 
of  printed  questions  about  the  story.  The  material  for  this  part 
of  the  test  is  printed  in  the  back  of  the  pamphlet  and  is  divided  into 
paragraphs  followed  by  questions  as  indicated  in  the  following 
sample: 

When  the  day  of  the  party  came.  Daddy  planted  a  May-pole  and  Mother 
tied  it  with  gay-colored  ribbons.  There  were  to  be  games  and  dances  on  the 
grass  and  a  delicious  supper,  with  a  basketful  of  flowers  for  every  child. 

1.  Were  the  children  to  have  anything  to  eat  ? 

2.  Were  they  going  to  play  on  the  grass  ? 

3.  Were  they  going  into  the  house  to  dance? 

4.  Were  the  baskets  to  be  full  of  flowers  ? 

5.  Was  it  Daddy  who  tied  the  ribbons  to  the  pole  ? 

Both  rapidity  and  quality  of  comprehension  measured. — There  are 
some  fourteen  paragraphs  similar  to  the  foregoing  in  the  story,  and 
a  total  of  about  seventy  questions.  The  time  is  limited  so  that 
even  the  best  pupil  will  not  complete  the  test ;  but  all  may  do  several 
minutes  of  work,  thus  giving  them  time  really  to  get  into  the 


52  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [December 

swing  of  the  task.  The  directions  say,  "Do  not  guess  at  the 
answers.  If  you  do  not  remember  what  the  story  said,  read  the 
paragraph  just  above  the  questions  again  and  again  until  you  find 
the  right  answer."  Thus  the  test  measures  both  the  rapidity  and 
the  accuracy  of  the  pupil's  comprehension. 

Great  variety  of  silent-reading  tests.  From  word-recognition  to 
solving  problems. — A  somewhat  similar  test  was  pubUshed  by 
Professor  E.  L.  Thorndike,  of  Columbia  University,  in  1914,  and 
the  results  used  by  him  in  a  number  of  articles  in  which  he  discussed 
the  mental  processes  of  pupils  in  understanding  or  misunderstand- 
ing sentences.  Numerous  other  tests  have  been  devised  to  measure 
various  phases  of  reading,  varying  from  the  mere  ability  to  recognize 
words  to  the  abihty  to  solve  puzzle  problems  expressed  in  words.' 
Instead  of  discussing  these  varying  types  of  tests,  it  will  be  more  to 
our  purpose  to  turn  to  a  brief  study  of  the  ideas  concerning  the 
methods  of  teaching  reading  which  have  been  derived  from  both 
the  experimental  laboratory  studies  of  reading  described  earlier 
in  the  article  and  the  use  of  tests  and  scales  which  we  have  just 
been  considering. 

CONCLUSIONS  FROM   SCIENTIFIC   INVESTIGATIONS 

Differences  in  oral  and  silent  reading.  Silent  rate  usually  exceeds 
oral  after  fourth  grade. — One  of  the  important  facts  that  early 
appeared  from  the  use  of  standard  tests  of  the  reading  of  school 
children  was  that  the  rate  of  silent  reading  becomes  more  rapid 
than  the  rate  of  oral  reading  somewhere  in  the  middle  grades. 
We  had  one  example  of  this  fact  in  the  second-grade  lesson  described 
in  which  a  bright  boy  had  already  reached  the  stage  in  silent  reading 
where  he  read  second-grade  material  more  rapidly  than  the  pace 
of  good  oral  reading.  In  the  case  of  most  pupils,  this  change  comes 
in  the  third  or  fourth  grade,  depending  upon  the  natural  talent  of 
the  pupil  and  the  methods  used  in  teaching  reading.  After  this 
point  in  the  grades,  most  pupils  will  read  more  rapidly  silently 
than  orally.     A  pupil's  rate  in  careful  oral  reading  will  never 

■  Probably  the  most  convenient  source  from  which  to  purchase  school  tests  in  all 
subjects  is  the  Public  School  Publishing  Company,  Bloomington,  Illinois.  Write 
for  their  catalogue  of  tests.  They  co-operate  with  the  very  efficient  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tional Research  of  the  University  of  Illinois  in  marketing  selected  tests. 


J93I]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGIN.VLVG  READING  S3 

exceed  that  of  clear  pronunciation,  whereas  his  silent  rate  may 
advance  far  beyond  this,  becoming  as  high  as  375  words  per  minute 
when  he  reaches  high  school  if  he  is  a  specially  skilled  reader.  This 
means  that  he  could  read  a  page  of  the  length  of  this  one,  if  it 
contained  ordinary  story  material,  in  about  one  minute.  To  read 
it  orally,  at  the  ordinary  pace,  would  take  two  minutes. 

Pfiotograpfis  show  differences  in  eye-movements  in  siUnt  and  oral 
reading. — One  of  the  most  objective  and  impressive  demonstrations 
of  the  differences  between  a  pupil's  reading  processes  in  silent  read- 
ing and  in  oral  reading  is  found  in  the  photographic  records  of 
eye-movements.  A  clear  case  is  shown  in  Figures  3  and  4,'  which 
represent  the  eye-pauses  of  the  same  pupil  in  silent  and  in  oral 
reading.  In  the  silent-reading  record  it  appears  that  the  pupil's 
eyes  in  reading  each  line  made  only  four  stops  and  at  very  regular 
spatial  intervals.  In  the  oral-reading  record,  it  is  shown  that 
his  eyes  made  from  seven  to  fourteen  stops  in  a  line  and  at  quite 
irregular  intervals. 

Overemphasis  on  oral  reading  may  interfere  with  silent. — Thus 
we  have  derived  from  the  scientific  investigations  two  important 
lines  of  evidence  on  the  relation  of  oral  and  silent  reading.  The 
school  tests  show  us  where,  on  the  average,  the  silent  rate  begins  to 
exceed  the  oral;  and  the  photographic  records  of  eye-movements 
show  how  many  more  eye-pauses  occur  in  oral  than  in  silent 
reading.  From  such  evidence  investigators  conclude  that  the  com- 
mon emphasis  upon  oral  reading  above  the  third  grade  seriously 
interferes  with  the  development  of  habits  of  skilled  silent  reading, 
and  that  it  would  be  better  to  give  various  t>'pes  of  practice 
especially  suited  to  develop  skill  in  silent  reading. 

Necessity  of  phonetic  training  shown  by  investigations. — .Vnother 
useful  point  that  has  been  determined  by  the  scientific  investiga- 
tions is  the  necessity  of  special  training  in  the  accurate  recognition 
of  new  words,  such  as  the  phonetic  training  described  in  the  pre- 
ceding articles.  This  fact  appeared  most  clearly  in  Gray's  survey 
of  the  results  of  teaching  reading  in  one  of  the  Middle-West  cities 
that  maintains  an  excellent  school  system.     Like  several  progressive 

■  ReproducUons  of  Plates  XXXIII  and  XXXVIII  in  Re-idini  /(.  V./urr  and 
Development  by  Charles  HubbarJ  Judd,  pp.  71  and  78. 


S4 


THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL 


[December 


schools  of  recent  years,  this  system  tended  to  neglect  the  so-called 
"formal"  phonetic  drill  in  word-recognition.  The  faUacy  of  this 
neglect  appeared  when  their  results  in  reading  were  compared 
with  those  from  other  cities  as  measured  by  Gray's  tests.  In 
speaking  of  the  situation  in  this  particular  city,  Gray  says : 

The  results  of  the  oral-reading  tests  showed  that  the  pupils  ....  ranked 
low  in  acciu-acy  of  pronunciation  and  in  ability  to  attack  new  words.  Class- 
room observations  revealed  similar  weaknesses Many  teachers  had  no 

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Fig.  3. — Silent  reading  by  a  good  reader  in  the  seventh  grade 

[phonetic]  devices  [for  helping  pupils],  and  some  were  almost  helpless,  if  not 
inaccurate,  in  their  attempts  to  aid  the  pupil.  Several  principals  stated  that 
many  teachers  had  little  or  no  knowledge  or  training  in  regard  to  the  use  of 
phonics.  As  evidenced  by  the  facts  cited  above,  there  is  real  need  of  giving 
the  problem  of  word  analysis  serious  consideration  in  [this  city].  Uniform 
methods  of  developing  independence  and  accuracy  in  pronunciation  should  be 
considered,  and  teachers  should  be  trained  to  make  effective  use  of  the  adopted 
method.' 

Diagnosis  of  needs  of  poor  readers  by  means  of  scientific  devices. — 
The  scientific  devices  for  measuring  reading  ability  which  were 

■  Elementary  School  Journal,  XIX  (March,  1919),  511-12. 


ig2i] 


HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING 


5S 


described  earlier  not  only  aid  in  the  broad  study  of  the  average 
efficiency  in  reading  instruction  as  illustrated  in  the  foregoing 
quotation,  but  are  also  especially  useful  in  diagnosing  the  needs 
of  pupils  who  are  having  special  difficulties  with  reading.  A 
number  of  excellent  investigations  of  types  of  poor  readers  have 
been  pubUshed.  Below  is  a  paraphrase  of  Judd's  description  of 
the  reading  defects  of  a  poor  fifth-grade  reader  whom  we  shall 
call  Grace,  and  the  methods  used  to  improve  her  reading.     She 


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Fio.  4. — Oral  reading  by  the  pupil   whose  record  for  silent  reading  is  shown 
in  FiR.  3. 

had  attended  three  different  schools  up  to  the  time  of  entering  the 
University  of  Chicago  Elementxiry  School. 

Disliked  silent  reading. — Grace  had  been  included  in  the  tests 

....  and  proved  to  be  a  slow,  inefficient  reader She  could 

not  unravel  the  intricacies  of  the  printed  lines  which  proved  easy 

to  many  of  her  classmates The  school  ph\-sician's  record 

showed  that  she  was  a  normal,  healthy  child  with  no  special  defects 


56  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [December 

in  eyes,  ears,  or  throat Silent  reading  was  particularly  dis- 
tasteful to  her.     She  always  settled  down  to  it  reluctantly 

From  the  home  came  the  same  story.  "  She  has  never  read  a  story 
to  herself,  although  she  has  several  attractively  illustrated  children's 
books.  She  frequently,  however,  after  eagerly  studying  the  illustra- 
tions in  a  new  book,  begs  to  have  the  story  read  to  her,  saying,' You 
read  it,  mother.  I  can't  understand  it  very  well  when  I  read  it 
myself.'" 

Tests  revealed  special  difficulties. — The  various  tests  given  to 

Grace  revealed  some  interesting  facts The  pronunciation 

of  unfamiliar  words  seemed  most  difficult.  She  usually  hesitated 
a  moment  before  attacking  a  new  word  and  then  whispered  to 

herself  the  spelling  of  the  word,  letter  by  letter Her  rate  in 

silent  reading  showed  an  unusual  condition.  It  was  slower  than 
the  oral  rate From  the  data  it  was  evident  that  her  diffi- 
culties in  reading  were  due  to  a  lack  of  familiarity  with  printed 
words  and  a  lack  of  method  of  working  out  new  or  imknown  word 
forms. 

Eighteen  weeks  of  special  remedial  training. — In  an  effort  to 

help  her  to  overcome  this  handicap,  she  was  given  various  types  of 

training  during  eighteen  weeks,  namely,  sLx  weeks  devoted  to  a 

great  deal  of  oral  reading,  six  weeks  in  drills  on  phonics  and  in 

•  word  analysis,  and  six  weeks  including  a  great  deal  of  silent  reading. 

Later  tests  and  improvements.— The  silent  and  oral-reading  tests 
which  had  been  given  before  this  special  practice  were  repeated. 
....  Grace  now  showed  by  her  whole  manner  that  she  felt 
competent  to  do  the  tests.     She  wrote  her  answers  with  a  precision 

and  directness  not  at  all  characteristic  of  her  earlier  tests 

Her  teachers  reported  that  she  now  read  with  much  greater  ease  and 

fluency  of  expression She  seemed  to  enjoy  reading  silently 

much  more  than  before  training Frequently  she  expressed  a 

preference  for  reading  a  passage  silently,  saying,  "I  can  do  it 
faster.'" 

Individual  cases  reveal  need  of  balanced  training  plus  individual 
attention. — The  foregoing  statements  give  merely  the  bare  out- 

■  Charles  Hubbard  ]udd,  Reading:  Us  Nalurc  and  Devdopmenl,  "Supphmentary 
Educational  Monographs,"  Vol.  H,  No.  4,  pp.  82-89.  Chicago:  University  of 
Chicago,  1918. 


i93i]  HOW  TO  TEACH  BEGINNING  READING  57 

lines  of  the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  this  case.  A  thorough 
reading  of  the  whole  account  as  given  by  Judd,  together  with 
accounts  of  many  other  cases,  is  desirable  in  order  to  get  some 
comprehension  of  the  compie.xity  of  reading  habits  and  processes, 
and  of  the  varied  needs  of  poor  readers.  One  pupil  may  read 
poorly  because  of  absence  during  certain  crucial  months  in  the 
primarj'  grades  when  the  fundamentals  of  phonetics  were  being 
taught.  Another  may  read  poorly  because  he  has  had  too  exclu- 
sive phonetic  training  and  never  acquired  correct  habits  and  skill  in 
interpreting  the  meaning  of  printed  words.  However,  in  spite  of 
this  variety  of  needs  and  processes,  the  diil&culties  of  poor  readers 
may  be  roughly  classified  into  certain  types,  for  which  a  well- 
organized  system  of  teaching  reading  will  provide  by  balancing 
the  mechanical  and  interpretative  features  of  the  training  as 
outlined  in  the  preceding  articles.  When  an  individual  pupil, 
because  of  absence  or  mental  peculiarity,  fails  to  profit  from  such 
balanced  training,  he  should  be  carefully  tested  and  appropriate 
individual  training  should  be  given  him. 

Investigators  emphasize  reading  as  a  tool  in  acquiring  ideas. — 
Up  to  this  point  in  our  discussion  of  the  results  of  scientific  investiga- 
tions of  reading,  we  have  considered  the  following  matters:  (i) 
the  difference  between  oral  and  silent  reading  and  the  consequent 
need  of  specific  training  in  silent  reading;  (2)  the  defects  of  systems 
that  neglect  phonetic  training  and  the  need  of  such  training;  (3) 
the  diagnosing  of  the  needs  of  especially  poor  readers  by  standard 
tests  and  the  means  of  correcting  special  defects.  Finally,  we  may 
note  how  investigators  of  reading  processes  have  come  more  and 
more  to  consider  reading  as  a  tool  to  be  used  in  acquiring  ideas 
and  as  a  process  involving  careful,  controlled  thinking  instead  of 
mere  passive  perusal  of  a  page. 

Thortidike  discusses  processes  0/  understanding  sentences. — 
Professor  Thorndike's  tests  of  the  understanding  of  sentences,  as 
previously  noted,  have  led  him  to  give  special  emphasis  to  the 
idea  that  good  reading  involves  good  thinking.  From  the  returns 
from  his  tests,  he  illustrated  at  great  length  the  failures  of  poor 
readers  to  think  carefully  when  reading  a  paragraph  to  obtain 
answers  to  certain  questions. 


58  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL 

In  commenting  on  the  types  of  errors  that  pupils  make  in  such 
a  reading  test,  Thomdike  says : 

There  seems  to  be  a  strong  tendency  in  human  nature  to  accept  as  satis- 
factory whatever  ideas  arise  quickly — to  trust  any  course  of  thought  that 
runs  along  fluently.  If  the  question  makes  the  pupil  think  of  anything,  or 
if  he  finds  anything  in  the  paragraph  that  seems  to  belong  to  the  question,  he 
accepts  it  without  criticism This  fishing  around  in  the  text  for  some- 
thing to  use,  and  its  use  without  reorganization  is  perhaps  the  most  debased 

form  of  selective  thinking  which  school  work  shows The  extent  to  which 

it  prevails  amongst  pupils  in  even  the  higher  grades  shows  the  need  for  practice 
in  reading  and  study.  I  am  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  the  cure  for  it 
is  not  to  repress  the  verbatim  use  of  wrong,  irrelevant  or  roughly  appropriated 
quotations,  but  to  permit  it  plus  careful  e.xamination  of  the  quotations  to  see 

if  they  really  do  meet  the  need The  comprehension  of  text  books  .... 

[is]  far  above  the  level  of  merely  "passive"  or  "receptive"  work.  When  the 
reading  of  text  books  ....  is  really  passive  or  receptive,  comprehension  will 

rarely  result "To  read"  means  "to  think"  as   truly  as   does  "to 

evaluate"  or  "to  invent"  or  "to  demonstrate"  or  "to  verify."' 

Conclusion. — This  quotation  is  quite  typical  of  the  recent 
tendency  among  progressive  investigators  to  think  of  reading 
processes  not  merely  in  terms  of  the  special  "reading  period"  but 
also  in  terms  of  vi^hat  the  pupils  do  with  their  textbooks  and  supple- 
mentary books  in  geography,  history,  science,  arithmetic,  and 
every  other  subject.  In  order  to  develop  skill  in  the  silent  reading 
of  such  material,  many  types  of  teaching  technique  and  devices 
are  being  organized  in  progressive  schools.  The  description  of 
these,  however,  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  series  of  articles  wliich 
is  concerned  merely  with  the  methods,  principles,  and  scientific 
investigations^  of  the  teaching  of  "beginning  reading." 

'  E.  L.  Thorndike,  "The  Understanding  of  Sentences, "  Elementary  School  Journal, 
XVin  (October,  1917),  98-114. 

'  A  reference  which  will  supply  the  reader  with  further  material,  summarizing  in 
attractive,  usable  form  the  conclusions  from  many  of  the  recent  scientific  investiga- 
tions, is  as  follows:  William  S.  Gray,  "Principles  of  Method  in  the  Teaching  of 
Reading  as  Derived  from  Scientific  Investigation,"  EiglUeenth  Yearbook  oj the  National 
Society  for  the  Study  of  Education,  Part  II.  Bloomington,  Illinois:  Public  School 
Publishing  Co.,  1919.    $1.10. 


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